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Vn 

ROLINE 

iSHBURN 

)CKWOOD 



thor of 

.n Adirondack Romance ” 
n Biscayne Bay,” Etc. 


Romance 



Superbly Illustrated by H. S. WYLLIE and A. P. SCOTT 


NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY 


156 FIFTH AVENUE 


NEW YORK 





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Through the gates of y e olden citie.” Frontispiece, 


AN EAST FLORIDA 
ROMANCE 


BY 

CAROLINE WASHBURN ROCKWOOD 


AUTHOR OF 

‘A SARATOGA ROMANCE,” “IN BISCAYNE BAY,” “AN 
ADIRONDACK ROMANCE,” ETC. 



NEW YORK 

NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY 

156 FIFTH AVENUE 

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Copyright, 1897 
BY 

CAROLINE WASHBURN ROCKWOOD 







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“ Whoe’er has travell’d life’s dull round, 
Where’er his stages may have been, 
May sigh to think he still has found 
The warmest welcome at an inn,” 


to fair Tlorida 


The golden leaves are rustling 
And whisper in my ear ; 

The joyful birds are warbling 
Glab paeans loud and clear ; 
While I, of thee still dreaming, 
Awake in morning shine 
To hear but one word ringing — 
Thy name and only thine. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER. PAGE. 

I. The Sisters Confer i 

II. On the “ New York and Florida Special.” 8 

III. New Friends and New Lands 35 

IV. Jacksonville 43 

V. They Amuse Themselves 46 

VI. Tangles 53 

VII. Over the Bridge 60 

VIII. St Augustine 67 

IX. Episodes 71 

X. The Lost Found 86 

XI. Off to Ormond 89 

XII. Ormond-on-Halifax 96 

XIII. Number Nine 103 

XIV. The Beach, Daytona and the Mayor 113 

XV. A Birthday Party — A Telegram and Arrivals 127 

XVI. The Royal Poinciana -. . . 132 

XVII. Rivals 138 

XVIII. Seminoles at Home 150 

XIX. The Royal Palm 182 

XX. The Magic City 190 

XXI. “Why Not?” 200 

XXII. Cayo Hueso . 209 

XXIII. Called Back 232 

XX TV. Revelations 235 

XXV. Exodus 246 




ILLUSTRATIONS. 


“Through the gate of ye Olden Citie. ” Frontispiece. 

The Sisters Confer 3 

The Nethla 11 

Egrets and Cranes 13 

Sisal Hemp 14 

“ The Scrububs. ” 17 

Biscayne Bay Yacht Club House 19 

The Punch Bowl 26 

Through Miami Rapids 28 

Little River 29 

Ducks 31 

On the “New York and Florida Special.” 38 

Along the St. John’s 54 

“ No more drives in the country.” 58 

The Side Entrance of the Ponce de Leon 63 

There’s the Memorial Church.” 65 

The Loggia 74 

The Fine Lines of the Stairway 76 

4 “ The grandest sweep from any one point. ” 78 

' “ A picture of our club.” 84 

* On the Tomoka 94 

1 From the Piazza of the Ormond 98 

' Trapper’s Lodge 104 

An Ormond Home 106 

An Encouraging Specimen 107 

' Ormond Romance 108 

* “ Do come. It’s a perfect day.” 114 

Hotel Coquina 116 

“ Isn’t it a gay turnout ? ” 118 

Kumquats 121 

' Grape Fruit 122 

Persimmons 123 

' “ Worth going miles to see.” 124 


vi 


ILL US TRA TIONS. 


Through the Hammock 130 

Scrub Palmetto Blossom 133 

* Pineapple Fields 134 

The Royal Poinciana 136 

“ You need a better teacher than I.” 142 

* From Lake Worth to the Sea 144 

'■* “ A goodly Inn — for comfort planned.” 146 

“ A Morning Swim . 147 

' “ Dr. Jimmie’s ” Family 164 

John Addison 166 

' “ Matloe ” and “ Cypress Charlie.” 174 

“ Jack Charlie ” and “ Wild Cat.” 176 

Billy Harney’s Camp.. 180 

v The Royal Palm 185 

' The Miami from Royal Palm Tower 188 

' Fort Dallas 192 

■ ‘‘And just beyond it, the Royal Palm.” 193 

A Snap Shot 195 

■ The Other Shore 197 

The New and the Old 199 

Royal Palm Trees 201 

Off to Arch Creek 203 

Driving Through the Pines 204 

Peacock Inn 205 

' Coots 206 

Along Biscayne Bay Shores 207 

“ Its little hands were clasped.” 217 

* The Key West Hat 229 

' Vignette 231 

* The Ponce de Leon 235 

* Adown the Northern Loggia 238 

“ What did I tell you ? ” 239 

Philip’s Last Bicycle Run 240 

‘ Stately and Churchly 243 

Vignette 247 

A Cosy Corner 248 

“ Good-bye, Florida.” 254 

“Almost Home.” 257 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE SISTERS CONFER. 

“ To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow.” 

The Hunter sisters were no gossips : they were far 
too clever for such wastefulness of brain and time : 
but when the married one ran into the paternal man- 
sion “ for a moment, dears,” and settled herself be- 
fore attentive Elizabeth and impulsive Christine, there 
always was so much to discuss that it must be con- 
fessed only the absence of malice and uncharitableness 
distinguished the ensuing chats from other less kindly 
tele-d-tiles of gossipy sort. 

As a family, they had become thoroughly familiar 
with the usual round of fashionable interests. The 
large, old-fashioned house in Washington Square — in 
which not only they but their father and several grand- 
fathers had been born and lived successively — was the 
central platform of their life-drama, from which they 
had diverged, with all the others of their set, to the 
resorts, north and south, from the Maine Coast, White 
Mountain heights, and Adirondack forests and lakes, 


2 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


all along the Atlantic shores to Sunny Florida, with 
occasional trips across the water interspersed. 

Perhaps, consequently, they had grown a trifle dif- 
ficult to enthuse upon the subject of travel, but even 
habit could not dull the irrepressible ardor of Elizabeth 
Hunter’s artistic temperament, who saw pictures in every 
fleeting scene and possessed a divine creative gift that 
cast lovely possibilities over the crudest people and 
things, while Christine, but two years her junior, never 
failed to yield quick, if not always comprehensive, re- 
sponse to all her enthusiasms, and “ Nell” — pretty, fair 
Eleanor Maxwell — stolen from their girl-lives by their 
devoted brother-in-law, Philip, less than a year before, 
had been both guardian and sister to them since the 
dreadful time, four years earlier, when their mother 
had passed out of their loving sight, leaving them to 
comfort Dr. Hunter and grow more than ever united 
and dependent upon each other through the common 
grief and loss. 

Although mistress of her own home — farther up-town 
— Eleanor Maxwell managed to be with her sisters 
most of the time that Philip’s absorbing business left 
her free, and neither outside nor inside circumstance* 
often proved sufficiently uncontrollable to prevent the 
daily reunion at one or other of the houses. 

On the morning of a frosty January day, when raw 
east winds were whistling across the town, making 
everyone scurry around corners and withdraw below 
coat collars, Eleanor made her appearance in her sis- 
ters’ .sitting-room, evidently much in earnest about 
something. 

‘‘Nell, darling, you look like a rose ! are you froz- 
en?” cried Elizabeth, meeting her with outstretched 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


3 


arms and an impetuous hug, followed by a critical 
look of general inspection that was the inevitable 
result of her training as an Art League student. 

“Come over by the fire,” called Christine, rousing 
herself from the couch where she had been lounging. 
“You look as if you had something important to say. 



The sisters confer. 


Beth, push that chair up, and here’s a place for you. 
There) now go on, Nell.” 

Eleanor, having returned salutations with warmth, 


4 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


and seated herself with alacrity, lost no time in 
preliminaries. 

“Christine, Philip is going- South to see a lot of men 
about his steam patent. Father ran in last evening 
and said he would like very much to have you taken 
away from this cold weather. I’m sure I see no fun 
in keeping house alone, and it will do Beth no harm 
to take a vacation from her studies. It is too early 
yet for the hotels to be crowded. Why not start with 
Philip and stay wherever we like it, while he runs 
after his engineers, etc., between places? He told me 
to try and persuade you to go.” 

“ Isn’t he a dear to want us ! ” cried Beth. “There 
never was such a love of a brother ; but, Nell, how 
long should we be gone ? I really ought to get into 
the Life class this year, though of course whatever 
father thinks best for Christine must be considered first. ” 

The thought of separation from her younger sister 
never occurred to Elizabeth Hunter. 

“When are you planning to go?” asked Christine, 
with evident apathy. 

“ Philip cannot be definite — who can, where mechan- 
ical enthusiasts are concerned ! but probably within a 
week. Father says the sooner the better for you, 
Tiny.” 

“ Goodness ! how can we get ready so soon ? ” ex- 
claimed Elizabeth. “What clothes must we take? 
Thin things, of course.” 

“As far as I can find out, we shall need suitable 
apparel for every degree of temperature from zero to 
ninety. Of course the start will be cold, and the com- 
ing back, too. From Jacksonville to Key West will be 
summer weather.” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


s 


“ Key West ! ” echoed both girls. 

“Yes, and the Bahama Islands, too, if Philip has 
time. Father says he hopes we will not get back 
before April, so you see we must go well provided. 
You know what a crank Philip is about all of us. 
Make yourselves as fetching as possible.” 

“I suppose — going into that wilderness — that we 
can’t take our wheels, and of course they never heard 
of golf down among the rocks and tangles,” sighed 
Christine. “ It is so comfortable at home, and such a 
short time to get ready for a journey ! ” 

Christine certainly evidenced no great enthusiasm, 
but a look had passed between Nell and Beth, and the 
latter proceeded to ply the young matron with prac- 
tical questions, to all of which she answered : 

“Wheels ? Yes, dear, the Florida coast is no longer 
a desert, you know. Since we were in St. Augustine 
ten years ago, things have changed, and now, so 
far as I can find out, we may expect to do every- 
thing that is done anywhere but sleigh, snowball, 
skate, and congeal. Dear me ! I’ve stayed over an 
hour and have an engagement at the dressmaker’s 
at twelve. How do we go ? From Jersey City to 
Richmond by the Pennsylvania ; then the Atlantic 
Coast Line to Charleston, and Plant Line to Jack- 
sonville. Philip has a stack of folders a foot high 
from the railroad companies, each one being sufficiently 
convincing of its special superiority to all others to 
make a choice based simply on merit no easy thing, but 
business and time values decide our way. A certain 
engineer is to be in Jacksonville for a limited time, and 
Philip runs a large chance of missing him if he does 
not get there by the 21st. Important matters here are 


6 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


hanging fire agonzingly (excuse the slang — it is a quo- 
tation from my liege lord), and the hour they are 
settled he will fly South. It is a question of days at 
longest. We can leave New York at 4:30 any 
afternoon, by vestibule train, be as cosy and comfort- 
able as possible, and get to Jacksonville the next 
evening at 6:30. Doesn’t that seem like magic? 
Philip says Jacksonville is interesting, and he is sure 
we will like the St. James for a week at least. The 
dear boy knows, however, that I know what a relief it 
will be to him to get us contentedly settled, while he 
indulges in his morbid propensity for the companion- 
ship of his own sex and profession. ,, 

“Bless his heart ! ” cried Beth. “ Any other man as 
clever as Philip would put his hobby first and his 
family next. He just spoils us girls and gets little but 
abuse for it. Well, of course I do not mean regular 
scolding, Nell, we are not that sort. But when he 
so much enjoys meeting men of his own ambitions I 
do think we might be more sympathetic." 

Christine, seeming to disapprove of the turn the 
conversation had taken, smiled into Eleanor’s face as 
she said, “ Philip would laugh if any one suggested 
that he lacked sympathy in his family. We may joke 
him but we all dote on him. Nell, dear, I wish father 
would not always be fancying me ill. I suppose I 
remind him in many ways of mother, but there is 
nothing serious in my colds, and to tell the truth, I am 
too indolent to think of all this breaking up of home- 
comfort without dread. Must I go ? ” 

Eleanor was a keen reader of human nature, and had 
made up her mind about her youngest sister’s state of 
heart as well as health, but she was far too shrewd to 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


7 

commit herself while there could be nothing gained 
and perhaps much lost, so she contented herself 
with a rearrangement of Christine’s pillows as she 
answered — 

“ Father really wishes it, and you will not mind after 
we once get started. We shall have every comfort on 
the train, and you need not speak to anyone unless you 
like. Jacksonville is the metropolis of the land of 
flowers; the gateway to sub-tropical delights; the 
scene of many a romance beneath its trees, moss- 
draped, upon the peerless St. Johns, and — h’m ! how 
would I do for a special correspondent, girls?” 

“ But Nell, ’’cried Beth, as she pulled her laughing 
sister down from her dramatic pose, “you say we 
may go in a week. That means attention to business. 
Take me with you, as far as Stern’s? — Now, Christine, 
stay where you are while I am gone. Luckily your 
gowns are all right. I’ll send up some fresh hats and 
wraps for you to select from, and you need not bother 
about anything. Oh, Nell — did I tell you? John 
Bartlett has gone to Savannah or somewhere south 
with his mother and sister for the season. They say 
he has given up the law — I suppose money is no object 
to him, but I did think he was too ambitious to step out 
of the ranks. Why, Christine, how flushed you look — 
the heat from that grate is too much. There ! (putting 
a screen in front of the lounge), now good-bye, dearie. 
Try to get a nap. ” 


8 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


CHAPTER II. 

OFF ON THE NEW YORK AND FLORIDA SPECIAL. 

“’Tis pleasant through the loopholes of retreat 
To peep at such a world.” 

A week later Philip Maxwell inspecting his “ family,” 
as he always termed his wife and sisters-in-law after 
the train rolled out of the Jersey City Station on the 
afternoon of January nineteenth, gave utterance to the 
following flattering remark : 

“Well, dear girls, thank goodness we’re off, and now 
rest all you can, for they do say there are more men 
lounging around the places on our route than are left 
at home, and I am proud to believe myself the escort 

of the most stunning female show ” 

“ Phil, I'm ashamed of you ! interrupted his laughing 
spouse ; “ but do you really know of anybody from our 
set that we are likely to meet ? *' 

“Our set! You ask me too much, my love. Do 
you mean the New-Yorkers that we know, or the peo- 
ple we hob-nob with all summer, or the goodly array of 
relatives — or what does that term include ? Let me see ! 
John Bartlett told me last week that he might see us in 
Jacksonville. That is a jolly place to spend a few 
weeks in. I was only a kid when we spent a winter 
there, mother and I, but I quite anticipate looking up 
my old haunts, and fancy I shall be able to recognize 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . g 

them. Christine, I do believe you are looking brighter 
already ! That’s right. Ta-ta— I’m off for a smoke.” 

Left to themselves, the sisters fell into a discussion 
upon time, distances, and the best plans for passing the 
evening. 

The winter day faded into a clear amber sunset as 
they were swept through the Jersey country, and before 
its high lights had faded and the exterior world had 
entirely disappeared from their sight, Christine, with 
amazing energy, exclaimed : 

“ I love to travel.” 

Eleanor looked at her wonderingly. 

Elizabeth looked at her tenderly. 

The first recalled her sister’s recent reluctance to leave 
home and recognized the power of mind over matter. 

The second rejoiced over the encouraging change, 
unmindful of special cause. 

“ We are due in Philadelphia at seven. Just dinner- 
time. How perfect this road-bed must be. We run as 
smoothly as though on rubber tires, but we must be 
making forty miles an hour at least. We will improve 
our minds after dinner, for a while. What do you say 
to my reading this sketch of Florida travel, written five 
years ago by a northern woman, for a literary club 
that a friend of mine belonged to. She borrowed it 
for me, thinking it would be a good preparation for 
our Florida trip. Daintily gotten up, isn’t it?” 

Eleanor was a good reader and both Elizabeth and 
Christine were equally good listeners, so the proposi- 
tion met with prompt acceptance. 

Dinner was served in the seclusion of their own 
apartment, and was a merry affair. Philip acted like 
a boy out of school. He joked until the waiter nearly 


IO 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


had apoplectic fits in the effort to preserve official 
dignity. He paid compliments to the trio with a 
sincerity equalled only by his audacity, and finally 
brought their united indignation upon his tawny head 
by calmly declaring them to be predestined to the 
society of two of his men friends, who at that moment 
were awaiting his summons in the next car. 

“They are not particularly brilliant fellows, but a 
good sort enough ; and we’ll get through the evening 
quicker with company.” 

“How horrid of you! — how ungallant, ” cried the 
girls. 

“As though two stupid strangers were a relief from 
our company ! ” exclaimed Eleanor. 

“Stupid! Who said they were stupid? There is a 
long difference between stupidity and brilliancy — a land 
thronged with a large proportion of this world’s inhab- 
itants, ” declared Philip calmly. ‘ ‘ But perish the thought 
if it pleaseth not your majesties — only what shall we 
do?” 

“Be cosy and comfortable w’hile Eleanor reads us 
something she has brought with her,” said Elizabeth, 
as she glanced into a mirror and disposed of a stray 
lock of hair. 

“All right. Anything for a peaceful life. What’s 
the subject, soul of my soul ? ” 

“‘Yachting in Southern Waters/ — I’ve only 
glanced through it. Smoke, Phil, if it will reward you 
for the sacrifice of your friendly mediocrity outside, 
and we will be as hospitable as possible to-morrow. 
Now for a change of scene. You can look at the illustra- 
tions after I get through. 



The Nethla. — Soft winds blowing free ; 

Sails spread, like birds at sea : 

The sound of swash and rush and roar, 
The dip of the bow, more and more. 


12 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

“On a moonlight night in December, 1890, the 
yacht ‘ Nethla, ’ poised like a graceful white-winged 
bird just before its choice of a resting place, dropped 
anchor off one of the lower of the Florida Keys. 

Above and below her floated the constantly varying 
loveliness of silver-edged cloud and lapping lustrous 
waters. 

No human sounds broke the sweet silence. 

Only the whirr of a night bird’s flight, the soughing, 
shining slip of a porpoise's back, as it dipped by ; the 
splash and gurgle of a silver fin and the lap of waves 
against the little ship, fell upon the ear. 

The eye and the soul at peace alike with each other 
and with all the slumbering beautiful earth, communed 
with nature, finding in the utter quiet of heavens and 
waters a resistless alchemy for every form of heart and 
brain weariness : a very well of Kanathos. 

With a murmur like the swarming of the bees of 
Hybla, the fragrant night-breezes played through the 
blossoms and leaves of the mangrove-edged islands at 
our stern, deepening the spell of the evening hour. 

We had chosen the southern approach to Biscay ne 
Bay, via steamer from New York to Key West, where 
the ‘Nethla’ awaited us with everything in readiness 
for a four-months’ cruise, and there we were, after a long 
day’s run, during which our northern eyes had grown 
familiar with the marvellous coloring of water and sky, 
the low-lying Keys, with their bordering thickets and 
towering pines and palms, the solemn egrets and 
cranes mounted guard on solitary reefs and shores, 
and the submarine beauties that were as clearly to be 
seen as life in upper air. 

We had heard the legends and histories of many a 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 



13 

g-reaming bit of coral strand that seemed too small to 
merit such enduring remembrance. 

Perhaps the most notably historic island was Indian 
Key, where Dr. Perine, the pioneer in the cultivation 
of Sisal Hemp, was murdered by the Seminoles, his 
wife and young children escaping by hiding themselves 
in a .turtle-crawl under the wharf, whence they were 
rescued the following day by a passing government 


Solemn egrets and cranes mounted guard. 

boat while the Indians were carousing on the opposite 
side of the Key. 

That tragedy took place during the last Indian war, 
and put an end to the thrifty settlement which then out- 
numbered in population any other on the eastern coast. 
Its remaining barn-like buildings are now the too- 
roomy homes of a few fishermen and their families, 
and the chief object of curiosity is an evil-tongued and 





Sisal Hemp. 


AM EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 15 

bad-tempered parrot whose discordant screams rend 
the air like echoes of that awful night. 

After our first night at anchor, during which the 
silence and solitude were almost oppressive, the charm 
of early morning revealed a new sense of ecstasy in 
simple existence. 

No words, spoken or written, no picture by sun, 
pen, or brush, can convey to the uninitiated the wonder- 
ful freshness and buoyancy of atmosphere, the exquisite 
tints of sky, water, and land, the rare music of birds, 
qpd the beauty of the leaping, darting fish around us 
that flashed through the air as if on wings, to return to 
their native element in sinuous, graceful curves that 
were doubly enchanting from their reflections in the 
crystal depths, through which they sported. 

Appetite, that fleshly penalty of the enthusiast as well 
as of more common folk, make the steward’s skill our 
salvation. How we devoured the dainty fish, fluffy 
biscuit, crisp fried potatoes, and savory coffee, and how 
W£ pitied the less fortunate who were on various small 
craft of sloop or schooner rig with nothing more in the 
way of creature comforts to be thankful for than the 
most meagre fare and the barest accommodations ! No 
inducements are held out to tourists to investigate the 
water-ways between Key West and Biscayne Bay; and 
unhappy is the voyager who, in lieu of own or friend’s 
yacht, embarked upon the mail or merchant schooners 
that are the sole means of reaching the land where he 
would be. One short investigation of the matter gen- 
erally ends in a reluctant but decided determination to 
give up the undertaking. 

Cocoanut Grove is quite the show place of the 
Miami region. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


16 


It lies in a curve of the bay, about twelve miles 
back from the Gulf Stream, a little more than seven 
miles from Cape Florida, and four miles from the beauti- 
ful Miami River. 

For a frontage of two miles it presents the appear- 
ance of a seaside resort, minus any taint of cumber- 
some civilization. 

Its shore residences are all of the rural and tropical 
type, a bit of hammock land in the foreground furnish- 
ing a luxuriant setting of vine and tree growth that 
is entirely lacking farther back, where the straight, tall 
pines hold full sway to the limits of the Everglades. 

The picturesque estate of that prince-of-out-door- 
sports and writer of clever stories, Kirk Munroe, lies in 
the southern end of the curve. When he bought the 
place, it was a tangle of scrub palmettoes, pines, rocks 
and twisted roots of vines and hammock growth. 

Now, its fine sea-wall and neat boat-house afford 
a suitable foreground to the seven acres of trim lawn, 
ornamental, shade, and fruit trees, rose-gardens and 
spicy pine-grove, in the midst of which stands the 
pretty cottage with a white jasmine vine clustering 
over its front porch, the fragrance of orange and lemon 
blossoms, heliotrope, mignonette, and a wealth of trop- 
ical bloom forever drifting through the open doors 
and windows, while day and night, the unison of 
‘purling, lapping waters on the shore/ with ‘sough- 
ing, murmuring, rustling ’ of the cocoanuts, dies away 

‘ On through the pines — 

The pillared woods, 

Where silence breathes sweet breath.’ 

In the harbor lies their yacht, ‘The Allepatta/ 


“ The Scrububs. ” 

A white jasmine vine clustering over its front porch 


i 




i8 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

(Seminole for alligator), and under the shadow of the 
pines is the first lawn-tennis ground on Biscayne Bay 
shore, made upon 515 barrows’-full of seaweed that were 
wheeled over many a knotty obstacle by Mr. Munroe 
and his ‘ Man Fridaj-,’ thus entitling the former to an- 
other feather in his cap of athletic honors, as if it were 
not quite enough to have been, at one time, the com- 
mander of ‘The League of American Wheelmen/ 
Vice-Commodore of ‘American Canoe Associations/ 
Commodore of ‘ N. Y. Canoe Club,’ Captain and Presi- 
dent of the ‘ N. Y. Bicycle Club/ and Secretary of the 
‘ Biscayne Bay Yacht Club/ 

It was in this ideal nest, that Mr. Munroe wrote 
‘Under Orders/ ‘Camp Mates/ ‘Canoe Mates/ and 
others of his recent works, and it is there that his wife — 
a daughter of Amelia E. Barr and an inheritor of much 
literary ability — makes housekeeping a drawing-room 
accomplishment, and the hospitality of ‘The Scrububs/ 
a poem set to dainty ministrations. 

The adjoining places, each with its sea-wall, yacht, 
and house, are owned and occupied more or less of the 
year by a Bostonian, by a French officer of the reserved 
corps, by Commodore Ralph A. Munroe — the origin- 
ator, promoter, ’and ruling spirit of the ‘Biscayne Bay 
Yacht Club — and by several other residents whose 
homes and grounds are less pretentious, and whose time 
and thoughts are more engrossed by daily avocations. 

Among the latter stands the ‘Bay View House/ or, 
in common, parlance, ‘ Peacock’s,’— the only hotel on 
Biscayne Bay — with its postoffice and store, the latter 
being the trading-place of all the settlers and Indians 
not provided for at ‘ Brickell’s ’ or Lemon City. 

The only buildings of interest besides these are the 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


9 


little schoolhouse where most of the social, educational, 
and religious gatherings of the community are held ; the 
Yacht Club-House, where members gather and guests 
are entertained from all parts of the country, and the 
Biscayne Bay Manufacturing Company’s factory, where 



Biscayne Bay Club-House. 

toothsome dainties are made for northern consumption 
from the cocoanut, lime, pineapple, guava, and other 
local fruits. 

The primitive comptie v starch mills, in which the 
sweet starch of the comptie root is pressed and pre- 
pared for table and laundry use, may be found all 


20 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


through the pines, worked by men, boys, and an 
occasional mule, and yielding a handsome profit. 

Fishing, sponging, hunting, and land-clearing, as 
well as building, are the chief occupations of the set- 
tlers, who now number several score. 

There are no finer fishing-grounds in the world than 
within a radius of twenty miles of Cocoanut Grove. 
King-fishing from January to May, and tarpon-fishing 
(with shrimp bait) after March are the exciting and 
fascinating sports, but the number of smaller fish 
always playing in the bay and Gulf Stream is legion 
and the quality rare. 

Duck-shooting from January to April is equally fine; 
millions of ducks and coots lining the upper bay shores 
and inlets. 

English snipe, quail, wild doves, occasional bears, 
otters, coons, ’possums and deer are found according 
to the sportsman’s skill and wisdom in choice of 
time and place. The Seminoles seem to have no 
difficulty in supplying themselves with venison and 
game, often bringing quantities to the whites, and 
either trading or selling at good prices. 

Pelicans, bald-headed eagles, fish-hawks, owls, 
crows, cormorants, woodcock, plover, snipe, cranes, 
herons, water-turkeys, mocking-birds, robins, red-birds, 
bluejays, and many more of the bird world pursue their 
various pleasures in the almost perpetual sunshine, 

Where the average temperature, winter and summer, 
is 75 0 , and the lowest is 40°, there seems little possibility 
of physical suffering to either bird, beast, or man, and 
the tourist smiles at the ‘ norther’ as merely a brief 
and a strengthening invigorator, although its approach 
is something to see and remember 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


2 I 

Fancy the vari-colored, sparkling waters of the bay 
stretching, north, south, and east, beneath a cloudless 
and heavenly blue sky. 

From the ‘Nethla/ at anchor in Cocoanut Grove 
harbor, one can look across the settlement to the back- 
ground of pine forests, and the experienced eye of the 
captain marks a line of white cloud. 

‘ Listen ! There comes a norther ! ’ he says. ‘ All 
hands attend to making everything snug, for it may be 
a hard blow and it may be a drenching rain, and it 
may be both/ 

Looking toward the Gulf Stream we see a circling 
line high in the heavens ; so high, that at times it 
seems to dissolve in cloud. 

‘ Cormorants going home to the Everglades/ the 
captain explains. 

The birds follow a leader in his search for the desired 
landmarks, making wild hieroglyphics in their dart- 
ings and turnings until, satisfied, he flies like an arrow 
straight across the bay to the Everglades and the hum 
of their great wings — hundreds in number — is lost in 
the majestic swells and diminuendoes of the approach- 
ing ‘norther/ 

A change has come over land and sea. 

The clouds in the north and west assume ominous 
and leaden hues. 

Although the south and east are still bathed in sun- 
light, angry lines of foam mark the advancing disturb- 
ance of air and water. 

The birds disappear ; sails are reefed ; the spongers 
and fishermen take necessary precaution and pleasure- 
parties content themselves with such shelter as i§ 
pearest at hand[i 


22 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


All nature seems to brace for the inevitable. 

Organ-like fugues sweep through the pines. 

‘ It is like the approach of a mighty mass of horse- 
men,' cries one. ‘Hear the patter and clang and 
rustle— how it increases in volume ; and how chilly 
the air has grown ! ’ 

‘You'd better go below, or you’ll get wet,’ warned 
the captain, not a second too soon, for down pours 
the rain in solid walls of water that blot out one-half 
our horizon, accompanied by a wind that would blow 
us to ‘Kingdom-come ’ if it were not for those blessed 
protecting lines of coral between us and the open sea, 
while still the sun shines beyond the blackness of cloud 
and rain. 

In an hour the vengeance of wind and wave is spent, 
leaving the earth refreshed and the air only cool to our 
northern pulse, but ‘awful cold ’ to the settler who ab- 
hors anything below 70° The effects of this norther 
sometimes last for three days. 

A curious freak of nature is evidenced in the nu- 
merous springs of pure drinking water that bubble up 
through the white sand and salt water of the harbor, 
within a hundred feet of the shore. They work a hol- 
low in the sand and can be plainly seen several feet 
below the surface. But one of these springs has suf- 
ficient force to make it available for drinking purposes 
and the supply from this one seems exhaustless, fur- 
nishing water to all the yachts, spongers, and other 
craft that choose to pump for it. 

Below Cocoanut Grove, seven miles down the bay, 
or eight miles by a primitive road, through a stretch of 
pines and then into a lovely bit of hammock, lies the 
‘ hunting grounds ’ in which the Seminole stalks his 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


2 3 


deer and the tourist goes daft over orchid-covered 
oaks and mangoes, gnarled and giant fig-trees, cluster- 
ing, climbing morning-glory and moon-flower vines and 
deep, dark, perfumed bowers of tangle, through which 
the tropical sun never burns and where birds nest in 
perfect safety. 

‘Addison’s ’ and Cutler are the only landings on the 
bay edge of this fairy-land. 

The former is named after its occupant, John Addi- 
son, the widely known Indian hunter who has been in 
charge of the Perine grant of land for many years. It 
is on his tract of redeemed hammock land that the ex- 
periment of cultivating the sisal plant is being vigorously 
pushed, 2,000 acres having been planted for the 
purpose. 

The sisal plant grows as far north as Jupiter, and 
bids fair to become a source of large income to 
Southern Florida as material for fine cordage. 

The next local interest seems to be the raising of 
pineapples, and at Cutler — a mile and a half north of 
Addison’s — Mr. Wm. Fuzzard has the largest growth of 
‘ pines’ on the main land. 

A pineapple field is an exceedingly curious and 
beautiful sight, and to taste a ripe specimen of the fruit 
direct from the mother stem is to know a draught fit 
for the gods. 

The fever for homesteading has flooded the region 
with settlers, even decoying into the forests cultivated 
women, who have a tiny house built, a clearing about it 
made, and such vegetables, fruits, and flowers started as 
suit their fancy. There they spend the necessary portion 
of five years and then prove their title to a tidy estate 
of 160 acres by simply paying a petty fee of about 


24 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


fourteen dollars, or they live on the place fourteen 
months and then “ commute ” or pay $1.25 an acre. 

For drinking water all along the eastern shores of 
Biscayne Bay — which is only a thin layer of soil over 
a ledge of coral rock fifteen feet thick, back to the 
Everglades, wells are dug through the rocks and the 
purest of water reached. 

Sailing up the bay from Cocoanut Grove to the 
mouth of the Miami River — a distance of four miles — 
one passes two points of exceptional beauty and 
interest ” 

“That must be near where the new hotel, Royal 
Palm, now stands,” interpolated Philip. 

“The first is the only high land on the Florida coast 
and, although not exceeding thirty or thirty-five feet 
from water line to summit, ‘ Coral Bluff’ is well worth 
seeing. Its formation of curiously marked coral, its 
festoons and massed decorations of innumerable vines, 
shrubs, and flowers and the tropical luxuriance of its 
cacti, oleander trees, sea-grape, and towering century 
blossoms clothe it with a charm of its own. 

The second curiosity is the Punch-Bowl, and the 
steps carved out of the coral that lead from it to the ham- 
mock above the bluff. 

Tradition hath it that the Spaniards who invaded the 
‘ land of Flowers ’ three hundred years ago, landed at 
the Punch-Bowl and dug there for the crystal spring 
that never yet has disappointed the thirsty traveller, 
afterward carving the steps to the higher land where 
may yet be seen signs of former homes and burial- 
places, among the splendid old lime trees that load 
the air with the fragance of their blossoms and fruit. 


'AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


25 

1 Brickell’s/ the residence and trading-house of a 
large land-owner of that name, occupies the southern 
banks of the Miami, and is, all in all, the most preten- 
tious spot on the bay, though the site of old Fort 
Dallas on the opposite shore might be converted into 
a still more beautiful estate. 

Nature seems to have done her best for both these 



Coral Bluff. 


shores, and carping indeed must that man or woman 
be who cannot find a fascination in the banks of solid 
pink and white oleanders that fill in the spaces between 
the towering cocoanuts, the former rising to the height 
of our apple trees and dwarfing the usual northern 
plant of the same species to a mere weed. Oranges, 
figs, dates, mulberries, bananas, pineapples, limes, 



The Punch Bowl 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


27 


citrons, and dozens of tropical fruits grow to perfection. 
Roses cover the piazzas. Indeed it seems only a 
matter of planting anything in that perfect climate for 
an assured and bountiful harvest. Frost never reaches 
the region. Malaria and sunstroke, hydrophobia 
and prostration from heat are unknown ills ” 

“ No, Philip, the Royal Palm is next Fort Dallas. 
The folder says so, or something we’ve read,” said 
Elizabeth. “ Goon, Nell.” 

“ Men whose lives are not safe a week in the North, 
settle along the rivers and inlets of Biscayne Bay, work 
in the fierce rays of a tireless sun from morning to 
night, hunt in the woods, fish in the waters, gun along 
the shores, breathe the sweetness of virgin soil and 
untainted sea-breezes, and thank God for life. 

Sometimes they go there for one reason and some- 
times for another, but, once there, the same spell 
holds all. Navigating the Miami is out of the question 
except in a tiny sail-boat or a small steam-launch. 

We were rowed, paddled, and hauled up the whole 
length of the impetuouc little stream, even getting out 
at the rapids and picking our way along the shore 
while the men pulled the boat over the shallows and 
rocks. 

Our guide piloted us into the mysterious Everglades 
and to a Seminole camp, where we saw 'family life 
among those quiet and reserved ‘ people without a 
country/ 

There is something very touching about the dignity, 
self-respect, and domestic unity of the Seminoles. They 
have established the reputation of being.tender to their 


28 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


women, children, and old people, honest in trade, in- 
dustrious, thrifty, virtuous, and independent. 

Passing Lemon City, seven miles or more above the 
mouth of the Miami, a thriving but not picturesque 
settlement of two or three hundred people, our investi- 
gation of the stream running from the Everglades to 
Biscayne Bay began with Little River. 

The 4 Nethla ’ anchored off the mouth of this pretty 



Through the rapids. 


winding stream, and we took to the boats, well 
provided with luncheon, umbrellas for protection from 
the sun’s rays, and cushions ; — for one of the chief 
charms of South Florida cruising is a dolce far niente 
spirit of disregard for conventional hours of eating or 
being at home, and hunger becomes a normal condi- 
tion that admits of no system of appeasing. 

The edges of Little River are of the same general 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE 


2 9 


character as all the shores of that region. Mangroves 
form a fringe of interlaced roots, through and under 



Ivittle River. 

which the water twists and gleams. Oleander, live- 
oak, pine, palmetto, cocoanut, and cypress trees fill in 


30 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

the spaces beyond ; except where a settler has cleared 
the ground and built a square cabin with more or less 
— generally less — attempt at comfort, and exemption 
from the erratic flea, the falsetto-voiced mosquito, 
and other equally undesirable visitants and residents. 

Candor compels confession of the fact that these 
small but often agonizing creatures do infest this lovely 
region, but only occasionally are they annoying upon 
the water, and when a breeze is blowing on land there 
is no trouble to be apprehended from mosquitoes, ex- 
cept during the summer months, when many of the 
Keys become uninhabitable. 

Little River boasts the only bridge in Dade County, 
built by government during the Indian war and now 
come into use by the opening of a hack-road between 
Miami and Lake Worth. 

Snake Creek is another tributary running from the 
Glades to Biscayne Bay, and is even more tropical and 
picturesque than Little River. 

On our trip up this stream we saw two otters, 
curiously out of place, it seemed to us ; a saucy little 
baby crocodile who stood on his tail and waved his 
fore-flippers at us in an enchanting manner ; water- 
turkeys and innumerable fish and quail. Some one 
says that ‘ the water-turkey is not a bird, but a neck, 
with subordinate rights, members, appurtenances and 
hereditaments thereunto appending, as seem necessary 
to that end.’ He has just enough stomach to arrange 
nourishment for that neck, just enough wings to fly 
painfully along with his neck, and just big enough legs 
to keep his neck from dragging on the ground. Our 
steward declared that water-turkeys would sink to the 
bottom and walk along comfortably while keeping an 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


3 1 

eye on their enemies, choosing their own time and 
convenience for reappearing. 

Certainly they are the incarnation of the unexpected 
in their dartings, twistings and alert investigations of 
all points of the compass. 

Ducks and coots seemed at home in the pretty 
shadowed inlets, and the sunny bits of sandy bank 
here and there showed unmistakable signs of large 



Ducks. 


crocodiles that swim across the bay from their favorite 
haunts on the Atlantic beach, where they may be seen 
by the dozen gliding through the depths of a dank, salt 
pond, fifty feet back from high-water mark. They are 
the only specimens of the great American-Man-Eating- 
Crocodile in the United States, and no sportsman thinks 
his Biscayne Bay experience complete without a shot 
at them either of rifle or camera. 

Of all the fairy-like spots in the whole of Dade 


3 2 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


County, however, the place of honor must be given to 
Arch Creek. From the first glimpse of its narrow, vine- 
draped entrance, the eye rests on a succession of ex- 
quisite pictures, each more beautiful than the last, until 
the climax is reached in the coral arch that spans the 
mirror-like water, the latter reflecting a complete circle 
of vari-colored, clinging, trailing blossoms, vines, 
dainty ferns, and velvety mosses in its marvellously 
clear depths. 

No pen can draw even a suggestion of the subtle 
charm that pervades every inch of this liquid poem. 

The banks are distinctly graven in slopes of coral, 
differing in formation so abruptly in certain places, 
that, deceived by the wonderful lucidity of the water, 
one shrinks from an apparently unavoidable collision, 
only to discover a depth of three or four feet between 
the keel and the river-bottom. 

Gnarled live-oaks droop their mossy beards over their 
own images, like sages in earnest consultation, the real 
and the reflected strangely one in appearance. Millions 
of gorgeous butterflies poise their varied charms over 
clustering chalices and lily-cups, or rest upon the undu- 
lating pads that swing gently with the passing current. 

Little brown quails scuttle timidly away under the 
mangrove roots, and the enchanted invader of this fairy- 
land idly catches a pendant mango branch as it sways 
’t wixt its lofty starting-point and its firm hold below, that 
breaks into sparkling prismatic jewels the edges of the 
stream. 

Bald-headed eagles stare from their lofty eyries. Buz- 
zards gloomily and sullenly turn their insatiate claws 
in overhanging limbs, breasting the sweet breeze in 
patient, hungry, and repellant watchfulness. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


33 


As the day draws to a close the cormorants sweep in 
long wavering lines and circle high overhead, seek- 
ing their evening course of flight for home in the great 
Everglades after a long day's fishing in the Gulf Stream. 
Orioles, red-breasts, robins, meadow-larks, night- 
ingales, softly coo and twitter, trill and sing. Mocking- 
birds swell the refrain. The fragrance of a thousand 
blossoms makes the golden air heavy. Above the 
arch, into the edge of the Everglades, our boats glide 
like spirits into dreamland. 

The waving, undulating stretch of vivid green, with 
its dots of wooded islets ; the tiny thread of smoke 
from some Seminole camp ; the cry of a gull as it starts 
from a still quivering branch ; the dip of pelicans and 
sudden slip of an alligator almost under the boat’s bow ; 
the darting of a gold-fish from beneath the oar’s stroke, 
and the sudden commingling of day and night in a 
tropical glory of aftermaths and tender moonlight — fill 
our hearts with a vast sweet content. Wordless, 
motionless, satisfied, we drift back past the nestling, 
flower-decked banks now hidden in shadow, now 
picked out in silver light, until the broad surface of 
Biscayne Bay and the graceful outline of the ‘Nethla’ 
recall us again to action. 

And so the days and nights passed in that lotus-land. 
Weeks and months left a trail of restful, happy mem- 
ories, set in sunshine and moonlight ; bordered with 
starry blossoms, sea-grasses, submarine gardens of 
coral, sea-ferns, and oceanic treasures ; shadowed by 
palms, pines, and gray-draped cypress ; redolent of 
sweet and strange and tropical perfumes. 

We sailed, drifted, dreamed ; fished, hunted, 
sketched ; noted the composure of nature and native 
3 


34 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


and — having- had our lesson — turned from Biscayne Bay 
with undisguised regret. ” 

When Eleanor Maxwell’s voice ceased and she 
dropped the paper in her lap, Philip, who had listened 
intently, exclaimed : 

“By Jove! it is a true picture of the bay as it was 
when I was down there. It will be an awful pity if this 
tourist business has spoiled it. Well ! we'll find out all 
about it before we get back. I say, girls, this isn’t a 
half bad way of travelling. We must be — nine o’clock 
■ — getting near Baltimore. I fancy you will not get 
your eyes open to-morrow morning much before nine 
o’clock, when we shall have to invite those men to 
breakfast with us, and atone for my broken promises 
of this evening. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


35 


CHAPTER III. 

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW LANDS. 

“ Bliss was it, in that dawn to be alive, 

But to be young was very Heaven.” 

Christine opened her dark eyes the next morning 
just as the east burst into sunrise glory. 

The regular movement of the “blue ribbon line” — 
as Philip called the “New York and Florida Special” — 
had induced a child-like slumber that left her suddenly, 
wondering where she was. From infancy, one of her 
fancies had been to sleep with curtains raised, that her 
first look upon the new day might be a bright one, and 
even in the city home her choice of rooms had always 
been a suite in the wing, where she could get an ex- 
tensive sky view. 

Lying in her state-room she looked upon much the 
same sky — now, neither distinctly northern or southern, 
but flooded with the splendor of dawn. 

Letting her gaze wander about the luxurious little 
nest, she discovered Beth upon the opposite couch 
still sleeping. 

With slight exertion she could see the country through 
which they were speeding, and amused herself for a 
while in watching the signs of awakening life in village, 
hamlet, and town. 


36 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

Her thoughts wandered from the scenes flying past 
her window to the thousand-and-one dreams natural to 
a young creature just upon the threshold of life. 
Whether they carried her north, south, east, or west, 
they must have been full of hope and gladness, for the 
rose-tint deepened on her cheeks and a happy smile 
curved her delicate mouth. 

“A penny for your thoughts, Tiny ” 

Beth’s voice brought her back to realities with a 
start. 

“ I thought you were sound asleep. Isn’t it a lovely 
day ? I’ve been awake ever so long. It’s like going 
back to being a little girl again. I feel so rested and 
so well ” 

“Breakfast in the dining-car ! Last call ! ” interpo- 
lated Philip’s voice at the door. “ Hurry up, girls, I 
am almost famished.” 

In another half hour they were seated at an end table. 
Flowers adorned the centre. Fruit invited appetite and 
everybody looked fresh and content. 

“ See that man on the other side of the car, halfway 
down,” said Philip as they waited for coffee. “ That is 
Arnold, and next the window is Frisby. They are 
travelling together — going down to Florida for shoot- 
ing, fishing, and yachting. They have been chums for 
a dozen years or more — gone over the Continent, sum- 
mered at most of the gay places on both sides, and al- 
ways keep rooms in town. They are devoted to each 
other, and yet are just about as unlike as two men can 
be.” 

“Are they the mediocrities ?” asked Eleanor. 

“They are the men you declined to entertain last 
evening. Whether they deserve your title remains for 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


37 

you to decide/’ answered her husband somewhat 
resentfully. 

After breakfast they went into the observation car 
and the men were brought up and introduced. 

Avery Arnold, tall, broad-shouldered, dark, and some- 
what heavy in style, became interesting when he spoke. 
His voice carried an instant refutation of any impres- 
sion of hauteur conveyed by his bearing, and made one 
look again at the serious face. 

Harold Frisby’s blond head, fresh complexion, and 
charming smile were calculated to win friends at sight. 
He was the personification of health, happiness, and 
independence, with the added grace of self-forgetful- 
ness. 

Elizabeth Hunter liked Arnold the moment she heard 
him speak and unbent wonderfully for her, simply be- 
cause she fconsidered herself a person of no especial 
interest to Philip’s chance acquaintances and, con- 
sequently, felt quite free to enjoy them in her own 
fashion. 

Music was Elizabeth’s greatest happiness. Not even 
her pencils or brush gave her the same joy of expression 
that she found in every form of harmony and melody. 
It was as.natural for her to sing as it was for Christine 
to memorize and recite poetry, or Eleanor to make the 
piano sound like an orchestra. To her sensitive ear 
the speaking voice of a new acquaintance conveyed 
indications of character, and, in Avery Arnold’s, she 
discerned much that inspired her with confidence and 
pleasure. 

Frisby drifted to Christine’s side and amused himself 
and her by pointing out bits of historic landscapes, 
signs of game, peculiarities of vegetation — until they 



On the “ New York and Florida Special.” 



AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


39 

finally lapsed into a chat about mutual friends dis- 
covered in their New York circle. 

“When did we pass through Richmond?” asked 
Eleanor. “ Are we not somewhere in North Carolina, 
now, Philip ? ” 

“ You were sleeping soundly, I hope, when we went 
through the suburb of Richmond. This line makes 
about forty-five miles an hour, to get us through in 
twenty-six hours — one thousand and fourteen miles — 
just think of it ! So they do not go into Richmond but 
through Clopton. We were due there at about half- 
past two o’clock this morning. It’s eleven o’clock now, 
and in less than another two hours we shall reach 
Charleston. I’ve been talking with the engineer. Do 
you realize, girls, what a tremendous responsibility 
rests on railroad engineers ? I tell you they have to 
know their business and live up to it, too. This man 
tells me that he was on this line when they took the 
Knights of Pythias from Jacksonville, Florida, to Wash- 
ington, D. C., 780 miles, in 880 minutes — ninety miles 
in ninety-three minutes ! That is a long-distance 
record-breaker that goes ahead of anything ever yet 
accomplished, by two hours and forty-one minutes.” 

“ Your husband is an enthusiast in mechanics,” 
said Arnold to Eleanor, as Philip stopped to take 
breath. 

“Enthusiast! Why, Mr. Arnold, he would rather 
talk to an engineer than a king any and every day, 
and when I am enjoying the scenery, nine times out 
of ten, he is counting the strokes of the valve or piston 
or whatever it is that can be counted, and calculating 
some of his endless problems about steam economy. It 
is all a hopeless puzzle to me, you see, but so long as he 


49 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE , 


enjoys it, I am quite willing to listen, even if I cannot 
understand. When we were first married I really tried 
to learn technical terms and their meaning — but I think 
my blunders were harder to bear than my pronounced 
ignorance. So we agreed to sympathize in generali- 
ties, and he never worries me nor I him.” 

Beth laughed. “ Dear old fellow — but after all he is 
a great safeguard. I'll warrant he never is on a train 
or a steamer an hour without finding out all about its 
motive power* and he is awfully particular about the 
routes we travel by. If he has to go anywhere in a 
hurry, as on this trip, he would have insisted on our 
following at our leisure, only, fortunately, we could 
combine comfort and speed this time. Why, it does 
not seem any distance at all from Florence to Charles- 
ton, and here we are. Do you know Charleston well, 
Mr. Arnold ? ” 

“ I used to in my boyhood. It is a hospitable old 
town and I have had many a good time in it. There 
were tremendous gales all down the coast last autumn 
you know, Miss Hunter, and I fancy we shall see the 
results of them very soon, along this line. A friend 
came down on the ‘Comanche’ from New York to 
Jacksonville, on the tenth of October, and experienced 
the most terrible cyclones known for fifty years. If 
the ship and the service had not been in every way 
superior another would have been added to the list of 
‘never heard from/ Do you love the sea, Miss 
Hunter ? ” 

“ Dearly — even in its wrath, Mr. Arnold. I have 
never yet felt any fear when on it.” 

“You are always brave, I am sure,” said Avery, 
Arnold, scanning the bright, strong face with keen 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


41 


though purely impersonal interest. What had he, a 
man of thirty-six, to do with sentiment. Had he not 
tested nearly every phase of that madness and now 
what was left — but Frisby. Unconsciously he looked 
over at his friend with that interest that only a man, 
otherwise unattached, feels for his best friend, and 
was pleased to see him enjoying himself. 

“ Now we are on the Plant line/’ announced Philip, 
as they curved away from Charleston. “And by two 
o’clock we shall be in Savannah.” 

“ What do you mean, Philip ? The “ New York and 
Florida Special” runs right through from New York to 
St. Augustine without a change. We are proving that,” 
said Eleanor. 

“ Let me explain, my dear. You know we started 
on the Pennsylvania road. That took us to Richmond, 
or more properly, Clopton. There, the Atlantic Coast 
Line makes the connecting link between the Pennsyl- 
vania and the Plant road, the latter beginning at 
Charleston and becoming the gateway to Florida, 
either by St. Augustine and the East Coast Line to 
Miami or by its own road to Tampa, on the West Coast. 
This particular vestibule train is the chief glory of 
the Atlantic Coast Line, acting co-operatively with the 
Northern and Southern terminal roads. Have I made 
it perfectly plain, my dear? Do you realize that now 
we are being borne across these pine lands, nearly as 
directly as the bird flies — upon the road built, owned, 
and run by the man who is doing for one side of 
Florida what the great oil prince is doing for the other? 
By the way — where can you find another state of the 
size of Florida in which tw T o open-handed magnates 
seem vying with each other to lavish upon it every 


4 2 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

possible chance. Arnold, have you been on the West 
Coast ? ” 

“ No?” 

“ What do you say to running back that way ? ” 

“Good, if Frisby agrees.” 

The urbane countenance of a waiter cut off further 
discussion by the announcement of dinner, and after 
Savannah was reached the party again resumed their 
places in the observation car and soon began to see 
the trail of the storm king in wrecked houses, barns, 
and fences, in huge trees torn up by the roots and 
hurled upon the ground, and hundreds of smaller 
ones bent out of shape and beaten as though by furies. 

Christine, now cosily ensconced on a lounge aird 
entertained with a ceaseless flow of story and joke, by 
the debonair Frisby, declared it made her shiver to 
see such dolorous sights and declined looking. 

Elizabeth and Eleanor, with the other two men, 
remained at their posts of observation until darkness 
blotted out the land from their sight, and not long 
after, the train ran into the great station at Jackson- 
ville, and the first stage of their jouney was ended. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


43 


CHAPTER IV. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

“ O’er the plain, the city sparkled with its thousand lights. . . . 
Above, the sky with all its bright sublimity of stars.” 

Philip pressed his face against the window, with 
childish impatience, endeavoring to discern the fulfil- 
ment of his boyish recollections. 

“By Jove ! It looks as large as New York ; no end 
to the lights, and will you see this station ! Come on, 
girls ; I am prepared to find the St. James any modern 
thing, and my old landmarks obliterated.” 

When they arrived at the hotel and were finally 
settled to every one's satisfaction, dinner having been 
disposed of, Philip asked : “ Who will take a stroll 
with me? There is but one familiar thing Tve struck 
yet, and that is Campbell. It is more than twenty 
years since we spent the winter here, and I was only 
a boy, but I should know him anywhere. He was 
just the same pleasant fellow then ; awfully good to me, 
too. The house must be twice as large now, but it 
does not seem so, for at that time it was as grand as 
anything you could find. Of course the trees make a 
difference. The park was only an open lot then. It’s 
quite an attraction now, isn’t it?” 

Qhristine excused herself, after asking if Philip haci 


44 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


looked at the hotel register, and being told that there 
were no familiar names on it. 

“I’m going to bed early. To-morrow I’ll go wher- 
ever you like,” she said, as she turned from the window 
and passed into her own room. 

Eleanor and Elizabeth were always ready for action, 
and the three started off to see what they could of the 
new Jacksonville. 

Philip kept up a running fire of comment. “Let’s 
go north first. See this handsome building ; the cus- 
tom house and postoffice. I would like to look at St. 
John’s Church and the schoolhouse next. I went to 
a school there taught by a German. He was a won- 
derful man: had been high in the Roman Catholic 
Church ; sang like an artist ; worked among the Ger- 
man Protestants here, and assisted the rector of St. 
John’s, besides teaching. I was fond of him and 
mother invited him to visit us when he came north, 
but we never saw him again. Hello ! This is cer- 
tainly the place where the little chapel used to be. Do 
you suppose this great church is the modern St. John’s ? 
There is the very same house Dr. Weller lived in, but 
no sign of the schoolhouse. I must ask somebody 
about it. Just below, on Monroe Street, lived a family 

with whom we often dined on Sundays. Mr. F g 

was one of the best friends Florida and Jacksonville 
ever had, as well as one of the first lawyers in the 
State. He and his son, and his law-partner and 
brother-in-law were all victims of the yellow fever a 
few years ago. It really makes me feel old to realize 
how much has happened since I last walked these 
streets. Let us go down to Bay Street and back to the 
hotel by the south side of the park. I remember dis- 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


45 


tinctly that three-story brick building being pointed 
out to me as the highest and largest ever seen in this part 
of the country. People looked upon it with amazement 
and admiration. It is not much nowadays, is it? 
And then everybody waded through sand that, after 
dark, felt cold to the feet as they sank in it. Now, see 
these fine sidewalks and hard streets.” 

“Twenty years is a long time. No wonder the 
place has improved,” said Elizabeth, somewhat 
unsympathetically. 

“True, but you are not old enough yet to expe- 
rience the surprises consequent upon such amazing 
differences between memories and realities. What is 
past is stronger in its hold upon one than the realiza- 
tion of the time that has elapsed. To-morrow I must 
hunt up my man and attend to business. Luckily he 
is in town yet. Here we are again. Good-night, my 
little sister. Dream of fragrant pines and magnolia- 
flowers, and sunshine. 4 No more shivering for us this 
year. ” 


46 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


CHAPTER V. 

THEY AMUSE THEMSELVES. 

“The level land went stretching away to meet the sky.” 

“Mr. Frisby said we ought to go up the St. John’s 
before we left Jacksonville,” said Christine, the next 
day at luncheon. 

Both their new friends had left them that morning 
for the east coast, planning to meet again in St. Augus- 
tine a week later. Philip was still with the man he had 
desired so much to see, so they had gone by them- 
selves on a long drive through the western portion of 
the city, leaving the river-side until he could be with 
them to point out his old landmarks or — failing that — 
discover their substitutes. 

With every hour that carried the Maxwell-Hunter 
party south, Christine had developed additional sparkle, 
bloom, and beauty, until Philip had declared at break- 
fast that she was “quite the show member of his 
trio.” 

“ I feel so well, now,” she had replied, as though 
her improvement demanded explanation, if not apolo<rv. 
Eleanor and Elizabeth thought their own thoughts 
with apparently satisfactory results, and only said 
pleasant conventional things about climate, change of 
scene, etc., but when they were alone together Eliza- 
beth had ended ap earnest discussion by remarking ; 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


47 


“ It’s only another instance of the absolute nothingness 
of material conditions. Can’t you begin to catch the 
thought, Nell dear ? ” 

Eleanor had shaken her pretty head. 

“ I’m afraid I’m hopelessly practical, Beth, and, can- 
not honestly see why * climate ’ and ‘change’ are 
not, in this very case, proving themselves immense 

factors in Christines revival. Of course ” 

“ Hush ! She is coming.” 

“We will go by ourselves, if Philip cannot spare 
the time,” said Eleanor. “Here he is, at last. You 
must be nearly starved, dear.” 

“Well, what have you seen this morning ? A jolly 
day, isn’t it ? I’ve carried through my deal, Nell, 
and am going to take a few days off. ” 

“That’s lovely,” chimed in all three voices in various 
phraseology. 

“Christine was just saying we ought to make the 
river trip, and now you can go with us. It’s so much 
nicer to have you along, hubbie dear ! ” 

Philip gave his wife’s hand a little squeeze under the 
table, as he also gave expression to the feelings en- 
gendered by his morning’s experiences. 

“Jacksonville has changed wonderfully in the years 
that have passed since I was here. Travel was mostly 
by steamer. Scarcely any Northerners had built win- 
ter homes then. There was a place a mile above 
here — I think they called it Brooklyn — where there 
were a few houses facing the river, on a high bluff. 
One of them was a small family hotel, kept by a 
Northern man, and filled with Northern people. My 
mother and I spent the winter there, and those were 
fine days for me — the only boy in the house. I man- 


48 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


aged to be “in ” most of the good times, because being 
out of doors was all that was considered necessary for 
my entire recovery from the general weakness that I 
was sent south to get over. School was a secondary 
consideration, and consequently set aside whenever 
something more interesting offered itself. 

“We must go down to Talleyrand Villa this after- 
noon. You’ve heard of the Duke and Duchess de 
Dino? At the time we were invited to the Villa there 
was no presiding hostess, but the marquis, his brother- 
in-law, and an English friend were alone on the place, 
and through mutual friends, invited a party of North- 
erners — among whom were my mother and myself — 
to breakfast. It seemed just like a book to me. Five 
miles through the pines, and then through an orange 
grove, into gardens bordered by rustic woodwork and 
ornamented with curiously and thoroughly foreign de- 
signs in shrubbery and trees, trained in fans, columns, 
and other shapes. There was a fine hot-house — the 
only one anywhere about : a boat-house with the 
Trench flag flying from it, and a not particularly large 
or handsome mansion with many valuable and in- 
teresting things in it. I remember, mother was asked 
to play and sing, and the piano she used was an ebony 
and gold affair that had taken a prize at the Paris 
Exposition. As she sat there, I felt quite free to look 
about at the pictures and bric-a-brac , and wondered 
why people that could live in Paris cared to come to 
Florida, even though they did bring along their prize 
pianos. The only other thing I remember seeing in 
that room was a Murillo — a Madonna. I dare say I 
should neither have noticed no t cared about it, if 
mother had not stood before it so long, with me in 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


49 


front of her, holding on to my shoulders, as she pointed 
out the tenderness on the Madonna’s face and the little 
child’s beautiful smile. ” 

Here Philip pushed back his coffee and suggested 
adjourning to the piazza for a while. 

“Tell us some more about the Villa,” said Elizabeth, 
as she drew a chair just out of range of Philip’s cigar- 
smoke for Christine, and took its mate for herself, 
Eleanor having already monopolized a third somewhat 
nearer her husband. 

“Oh! there was a dining-room with interesting 
pictures on the walls. One was of the Derby race, 

and Lord P , the English guest, took the trouble 

to point out to me different famous horses, and to tell 
me stories about them. He was the eldest son of the 
Earl of Macclesfield and a great hunter as well as a fine 
fellow. He died suddenly, at his English home, only 
last year. — Hullo, Bartlett ! glad to see you, old man ! 
I hoped you would find us out. We got here only 
yesterday. ” 

“It is pleasant to see a familiar face, Mr. Bartlett,” 
said Eleanor, as she seconded her husband’s cordial 
welcome. Elizabeth also came forward with friendly 
greeting, but Christine made no advance, simply rising 
and quietly awaiting the new-comer’s recognition. 

He lost little time in reaching her and made no ef- 
fort to restrain his pleased surprise in finding her so 
changed for the better. 

“What magic has so restored your strength, Miss 
Christine ? ” he asked, as he sat down by her. By so 
doing he skillfully hemmed her in from the already aug- 
mented group of relatives and friends just mutually 
discovered, 


50 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

“I am very glad to see you again, Miss Christine. 
It is an unexpected pleasure, too, for Maxwell did not 
tell me he was planning for any one but himself when 
I ran across him in New York just before we left. At 
that time I thought my mother would like Savannah 
for the winter ; but a friend heard we were south and 
wrote me offering his place, just out of Jacksonville, 
for the season, as he is not coming down this year. 
Will you let me drive you out to ‘ Live Oaks ’ soon ? 
My mother is unable to make calls, but will be delighted 
to see you. My sister has been called north.” 

He waited patiently for his answer, watching the 
color fluctuate in Christine’s face — until she succeeded 
in detaching her gown from the consequences of a too 
hasty sitting — evidencing a curious indifference about 
hastening her release. Perhaps it would be long be- 
fore he had another as favorable opportunity for noting 
every detail in the face he had not hoped to see for 
many months, if ever. 

“Thanks, Mr. Bartlett. You must ask Mrs. Max- 
well. I have not yet quite taken up my indepen- 
dence. Three months of ‘ nothingness ’ cannot be set 
aside at once, you know. How long do you stay 
with your mother? ” 

“ Indefinitely. You know I gave up my profession 

because she needed me with her Here he stopped 

suddenly, surprised by Christine’s abrupt movement. 

“Oh! your mother ! — I thought ” and then, 

blushing furiously, she rose and passed him, to speak to 
some one Eleanor was introducing. 

Everybody fell to discussing plans for the next day. 

“ I saw a Boston party of men this morning just in 
from hunting and fishing at Homosassa. They said 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


51 


game was easy. Have you ever been on an alligator 
hunt, Bartlett ? Take a small boat, launch, or steamer, 
have a supply of food and ammunition on board and 
get off on some of the untravelled creeks. I tell you 
it’s fun.” 

“ Let’s go ! ” said Eleanor. 

“What — you girls ! You’d faint the first time a gun 
went off.” 

“Philip Maxwell, aren’t you ashamed of yourself!” 
cried Eleanor. “We are no more afraid of a gun than 
you are, and you know it.” 

Everybody laughed, and a spirited discussion fol- 
lowed which ended in an agreement that some dozen 
of them would go up the river the next day. 

John Bartlett made his farewell bow to the chaperon 
of the party as soon as he succeeded in gaining her 
ear and her permission to carry Christine off at the 
latter’s convenience and then Philip marshalled his 
forces and started forth to find the house on the river 
bank where he had previously stayed and the villa he 
had described at luncheon. 

The former was about the only satisfactory remnant 
of his boyish experience. Although no longer an 
hotel but a well preserved and attractive private resi- 
dence, it had not been changed at all in external ap- 
pearance, and, to his delight, the same long pier that 
he had played on still remained intact, and the girls 
waited while he ran down the steps and out to the very 
end. 

Eleanor laughed at him when he returned to the 
carriage. 

“What a boy you are ! ” 

“Never mind — your turn will come some day, my 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


52 

dear, though I cannot believe that any twenty-four 
years can work as many changes here ever again. 
Look at this handsome avenue and all these fine 
houses. The old Brooklyn bore about the same rela- 
tion to this that some of the Southern ‘ cities ’ of a 
dozen houses scattered along the railroads of that time 
did to their Northern prototypes ! Now we will go to 
Talleyrand Villa. ,, 

All the way there Philip made the girls laugh by his 
surprise at the changes. “ Splendid roads ! Where are 
the Pines ? See all these streets ! Miles of them. I 
don’t believe we are going the right way. Driver, are 
we going to Talleyrand Villa ? Sure ? All right. Yes ; 
now it begins to look a little more natural ; there is the 
river, any way.” 

But the orange grove had drooped in the great frost 
of ’95, and the chateau had been demolished by fire, 
with hothouse and stables — and the curious gardens 
had utterly disappeared. All that remained of the past 
was the St. John’s River, as blue and gleaming and 
graceful as of yore. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


53 


CHAPTER VI. 

TANGLES. 

“ Come forth into the light of things, 

Let nature be your teacher.” 

The week passed like a happy dream with the 
quartette. 

Several days of it were given to the St. John’s River, 
as far as Enterprise, stopping at the various places of 
interest along shore, enjoying Philip’s stories, giving 
Elizabeth and her sketch-book full scope, and Chris- 
tine liberty to follow her own pleasure, with such 
attendance as best suited her small majesty; for 
Christine never lacked admirers and, in an innocent 
unconscious way, considered them necessities. 

Elizabeth was easily bored by masculine society. 
Christine, rarely. What the first found in art, nature, 
and tried friends, the second discovered in the devotion 
of every one in general and some one in particular. 
It was no fault of hers. She demanded and com- 
manded personal attention just as inevitably as some 
flowers turn to the sun, and neither of her sisters could 
decide how much or how little, beyond habit, had to do 
with her experiences, but everything that pertained to 
her interested them, although they were sometimes 
puzzled. 

They often went out on half-day excursions, just for 



Along the St. John’s. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


55 

the sake of basking in the delicious sunshine and 
breathing the soft, fragrant air. 

On one of these afternoons they were making them- 
selves especially merry, “like children out of school,” 
Eleanor said. 

The little steamer was passing a point some ten miles 
above the city when Philip waxed retrospective. 

“ I think it must have been about here that I once 
saw two of the best shots ever made,” he said. . 

“You were ten years old ! ” laughed his wife. 
“Perhaps your shooting standards were not well 
developed at that early period.” 

“I admit that my aim and my game have improved 
with time and experience,” was the amiable response,, 
“but nevertheless my eyes were keen, birds were plen- 
tiful and everybody with a gun was on the alert for a 
target — from an alligator to a bald-eagle or a white- 
breasted curlew. I was sitting on the top of the 
wheelhouse, near a young fellow from Massachusetts. 
All of a sudden he jumped up, to aim at a bird about 
the size of a duck — I can’t say what it was now — that 
was crossing our bow at an acute angle, some fifty feet 
above us. We were going at a fair speed and the bird 
dropped plump onto the lower deck, amidst roars of 
applause from everybody. 

“We stood watching the victor as he climbed down 
for his game and were indignant to see another man 
quietly pick up the bird and claim it. To make a long 
story short both men shot the same bird, their aims 
showing clear results within an inch of each other, and 
they divided the spoils, my mother receiving one wing 
for a souvenir. That’s straight.” 

“A good story, well told,” cried Elizabeth, who 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


56 

never lost an opportunity to sound Philip's praises ; 
“but do you all see how fascinating this river grows 
with every mile ? I like it best as it gets a little more 
narrow and intimate. Well, what are you laughing at ? 
Do you not feel nearer to and better acquainted with 
those solemn cranes than you could if they were mere 
specks, and isn’t it delicious to get the details of those 
trailing floating vines.” 

“You are quite right, Miss Hunter,” whispered a 
Boston man who seemed disposed to interest himself 
in her movements, having scarcely taken his eyes off 
of her since they left Jacksonville. Nothing is perfect 
at long distance but mountains, sky and abstract 
ideas. ” 

“ In spite of that old saw about distance?” asked 
Elizabeth, resenting the sentimental attitude and tone. 

Christine and John Bartlett, who with his mother 
had joined the party, heard her mocking voice and 
paused in their conversation to ask what became of the 
grand in art, statues, paintings, architecture. 

“The intimacy then becomes purely spiritual, I 
think, and more real, even though distance is imposed 
— but not because it is.” 

Mrs. Bartlett looked at the lovely face with earnest- 
ness and seemed about to speak, but, changing her 
mind, only smiled. She had seen a good deal of 
Elizabeth Hunter in city charities, and was fond of her. 

As they returned, the sun hung low in the western 
horizon, and everything was glorified. 

“That bridge looks as though spun from gold. 
Isn’t it a picture ? — and such a civilized bit for this place 
and time,” said Christine. 

“ We will be going over it to-morrow morning,” said 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


57 

Philip. “I am curious to see St. Augustine. If 
pictures are truthful it outdoes Spain itself. ” 

An involuntary sigh made Christine look up quickly 
at John Bartlett. 

“Must you go so soon ? ” he said. 

He spoke calmly and generally, but his eyes saw 
only Christine. 

Eleanor answered. “We’ve been here longer than 
we expected and there is much to see before we complete 
our tour. Mrs. Bartlett, I really think it would do you 
ever so much good to go with us. You certainly seem 
stronger every time you take these excursions. Why 
do you not induce her to go, Mr. Bartlett ? ” 

“I am more than willing to try,” was the prompt 
answer. 

That evening was a gay one at the St. James, and 
the three sisters danced until late. Just before they 
left the group of friends who were saying reluctant 
farewells, Christine took a last turn on the piazza with 
John Bartlett, and as they stood in the moonlight, look- 
ing out onto the park, he said, “ What shall I do with 
myself now ? No more bicycle-rides in the afternoon ; 
no more rowing on the river ; no more drives in the 
country; no more anything.” 

“ Why not come with us ? ” 

‘ * Would you like to have my mother and me always 
about, Miss Christine ? ” 

She broke off a bit of jasmine from a bunch in her 
gown and picked it to pieces as she said, cruelly, “Em 
very fond of Mrs. Bartlett. We all are — and she needs 
you, you know.” 

“Christine, dear, where are you? Oh, Mr. Bartlett, 
I must carry her off. We have to take the train a little 



“ No more drives in tlie country.” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


59 


after nine, and that means an early breakfast. I really 
do hope Mrs. Bartlett will feel like following us very 
soon. You will bring her, won’t you?” 

“ I certainly will, Mrs. Maxwell, if I have my way. 
Good-night and au revoir '* 


6o 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


CHAPTER VII. 

OVER THE BRIDGE TO THE OLD-NEW. 

“ Elysian beauty, melancholy grace.” 

Over the now familiar bridge, leaving Jacksonville, 
with her crescent frontage of sparkling waters, of busy 
craft and crowded warehouses ; with her miles of 
moss-draped, oak-shaded streets and hospitable homes ; 
with her stretches of drives, walks and shadowy resting 
places ; the gateway to all the sub-tropical treasury, 
east, west and south, glided the Florida East-Coast 
train, the next morning, bearing Philip Maxwell and 
his family from the new-old Florida of his latest adop- 
tion, to the old-new city of which all the world reads. 
But only to those admitted to her poetic intimacy, 
gained through weeks of her presence ; moonlit hours 
upon her gleaming ways ; golden days under her 
cerulean skies, and all the subtle influences of her 
unique charms, can her infinite grace and untiring 
beauty be revealed. 

They had conscientiously digested Reynold’s guide- 
book of St. Augustine and the East Coast ,— “ Mighty 
good reading," Philip had pronounced it, — had care- 
fully inspected the numerous views with which Eleanor 
had deluged them, even studying the history of Old 
W J. Augustine together, that the local color should be 
as truthful as possible. 

Nothing more remained but “just enjoying it," as 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


6 1 


Christine said with undisguised satisfaction. Pretty 
Christine always preferred the finished picture in every- 
thing. She wondered at Elizabeth’s enthusiasm over 
“studies'' and “suggestions," and “bits.” 

The road lay through hammock land, with scattered 
dwellings, small towns and young fruit orchards, vary- 
ing the tangles and pines. 

“ Very scrubby, don't you think?” said Christine, 
somewhat bored. 

“With this warm light over everything, and all this 
soft coloring ; a thousand greens and yellows ; in Janu- 
ary, I think it is delightful ! " answered Elizabeth. 

“There used to be large orange groves through 
here,” said practical Philip. “I came over and 
picked all the oranges I could eat one afternoon ; but 
the ’95 frost killed them. Do you know, a man who 
lives a little south of Jacksonville told me that there 
never had been such ruin and loss wrought by an agri- 
cultural disaster anywhere in the world, as Florida 
suffered from that frost. People went to bed worth 
thousands of dollars and got up penniless. He said 
his grove yielded him an income of five thousand dol- 
lars, after as many years of constant work, and there 
lay the trees, literally blasted to the earth. Every- 
body was in the same condition. Consternation 
reigned, but I am inclined to think that although the 
remedy certainly was heroic, it has made a new and 
far more valuable country of this State. People will 
not, are not, trusting alone to the citrus fruits, but fast 
learning to protect themselves by planting such vege- 
tables and trees as will yield sure crops the year around, 
whatever the weather proves. You see the orange 
trees are coming on well, too.”* 


62 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


They began to notice signs of marsh prairie, and 
soon came upon the St. Sebastian River on the right, 
and the out-lying avenues of St. Augustine. In an- 
other ten minutes the train brought them into full view 
of the city and stopped before the station. 

“Yellow and white everywhere; clean and con- 
spicuous, but a trifle glaring,” said Christine, looking 
at the railroad buildings and many of the houses they 
passed. 

Eleanor and Elizabeth seemed to see only the adjoin- 
ing park, the palms, the distant turrets and towers 
of the great Spanish palaces ; broad, gleaming Valencia 
street, and the indefinable foreign look of every- 
thing. 

“Don’t talk,” said Eleanor, as they were driven 
around the square and into the Cordova Street en- 
trance of the Ponce de Leon. “ Just look.” 

“I know I am dreaming,” whispered Elizabeth. 

They stopped in the centre of a great porte-cochere , 
warmly decorated in terra-cotta. Before them was a 
stretch of orange trees inter-trained with palmettoes, 
date-palms, magnolias, pomegranates, and a wealth of 
vividly colored verbenas, roses and hybiscus. Behind 
was another garden, through which the carriage had 
just passed. 

The entrance to the hotel suggested hours, days, 
weeks, of inspiration, designing and execution to 
Elizabeth’s trained eye. 

If she only could have been allowed to stand and 
study the coloring, the detail ; but Philip hurried them 
all up the inner steps that led to the rotunda and the 
reception-room. The orchestra was hidden from sight, 
but music palpitated through the magnificent dome, 





“ Into the side entrance of the Ponce de Leon.” 




64 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


and men and women were grouped about, chatting, 
listening, watching each other. 

Christine indulged in subdued ecstasies. 

“Oh, girls, won’t we have fun here! Isn’t it the 
most gorgeous place you ever imagined P And such 
lots of young people. I do hope our trunks will come 
right up. Let’s go to our rooms and get ready for 
luncheon. I feel like a tramp in this dusty gown.” 

She certainly did not look like a tramp, Eleanor 
thought, as she led the way to the elevator, where 
Philip awaited them. 

“Third floor — here we are. We are lucky to get 
this suite, girls — people went out only this morning. 
See ! you have a little loggia all to yourselves. Look 
out here, dear, there is the Alcazar opposite, and over 
there is the Cordova. You girls may have this end of 
the suite and Nell and I will take the other.” They 
walked through the handsome rooms, happy to feel 
at home in them for a while, and amazed at the prodi- 
gality which had lavished beauty and luxury in every 
direction. From Eleanor’s sleeping room a new pict- 
ure presented itself. 

“Look, girls,” she cried. “How glorious those 
gardens are from this point of view. It is like looking 
into the heart of a great flower ; and there is the 
Memorial Church we have heard so much about, and 
such a darling manse. That must be the Flagler 
Mansion just beyond the church. Colonial, isn’t it ? ” 

Just here there was a tap at the door. 

“ Come in.” 

“ Good-morning, ladies. Are you quite comfortable ? 
I am the housekeeper,” said a gracious woman, whose 
bright smile and pleasant voice won instant good-will. 



• n 


“ There is the Memorial Church we have heard so much about 


66 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


When she had looked about to satisfy herself that 
everything was just right, and had gone, Philip, having 
bowed her out as though she were an empress — for 
Philip Maxwell never forgot to honor any woman he 
met — planted himself against the door and remarked 
with enthusiasm: “Sir Henry Irving is not ‘in it’ 
with this establishment for consideration of detail. 
Did you ever see a more ideal type of hostess than 
that attractive little woman ? It makes one feel like 
staying a season to be greeted like that. I hope such 
a good beginning does not necessitate a bad ending, 
but certainly this suits me ; ” — wherewith he appro- 
priated the easiest chair in the room, pulled out his 
cigar case and made himself at home. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


67 


CHAPTER VIII. 

ST. AUGUSTINE. 

“Days too short, joys too sweet, life too bright for words.” 

Philip had some letters of introduction, and there 
were several acquaintances at the hotel ; others were 
discovered before the week was out at the Alcazar, 
Cordova, and smaller houses, so it did not take long 
for the girls to find the days too short for their engage- 
ments, and the evenings crowded with pleasant hap- 
penings. 

They made a noticeable group, and received much 
attention. 

“I never before was in a place where there was so 
much to do all the time,” said Eleanor, one morning, 
to her sisters, as they returned from a bowling party 
at the Casino. “I really am beginning to think I 
would like a quiet time for a day or two. Oh, you 
need not be alarmed, Christine. Wild horses would 
not drag Philip from St. Augustine just now. He is 
up to his eyes in plans for goodness knows what new 
systems of water supply, or something of that sort. I 
have not seen him, except at meals, for two days. 
Mr. Mac. and he are like the Siamese twins : nice 
man, that Mr. Mac., and they tell me he and his part- 
ner built all the Flagler hotels, besides several other 
big houses in Florida. Philip says he is a regular 


68 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


walking encyclopedia of information on building and 
decorating. Now, what is on for this afternoon ? 
Luncheon at the Commissioner’s — sure to be jolly ; 
drive, five o’clock tea at the Manse, dinner with the 
men, at the Cordova. By the way, Elizabeth, is not 
Mr. Arnold staying longer than he expected to? I 
thought both of them were due at Lake Worth this 
week.” 

Elizabeth stopped coiling a moon-flower vine around 
the loggia column next her, and took her hat off, as 
she answered: “I don’t know, Em sure. Ask Chris- 
tine. Mr. Frisby tells her everything he knows, and 
whatever he says concerning plans will go with Mr. 
Arnold.” 

Eleanor thought she perceived a somewhat thinly 
disguised sarcasm in the tone. 

“They are certainly what Philip calls ‘puddin- 
chums,’ are they not? Tiny, how does Mr. Frisby 
wear. Did I not hear you promising to wheel with 
him this evening ? ” 

“Yes, all of us are going, of course. The Commis- 
sioner sent over this morning, just after you and Beth 
had gone out, to know if we would not join a bicycle 
party and ride on the beach. We meet at nine o’clock ; 
the moon rises abont eight to-night. I answered the 
note for you and accepted.” 

“ But did he invite Mr. Frisby ? ” 

“The invitations said, ‘And the friends we met 
at the museum yesterday.’” 

“Oh, they are very hospitable, these St. Augustine 
people, and very charming,” said Elizabeth. 

“I should think they would get tired to death of 
entertaining, though,” said Eleanor. “Think of the 


Att EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 69 

thousands of tourists, during the season, that come to 
this place. We have been here a week now ; and do 
you find Mr. Frisby entertaining? ” 

“Awfully,” was Christine's ambiguous reply, as she 
disappeared, intent upon reaching her room in time to 
prepare for the next engagement. 

By the time the others caught up with her a new 
topic was opened. 

“ Eleanor thinks papa wishes you to take the baths 
regularly, Christine.” Elizabeth stood at their little 
parlor window as she spoke. 

“What for? Am I not as well as I can be ? I can’t 
spare the time. Just think how much it would take ! 
and it is quite unnecessary. Was not that cake- 
walk in the Casino last night the funniest thing you 
ever saw, Beth? By the way, do you know that next 
Tuesday is Eleanors birthday? I saw some perfectly 
lovely silver things at Greenleaf & Crosby's. Let’s go 
in there together the very first chance we get, away 
from her, and select some presents for the darling. 
Just look at my diary, Beth. What a variety for one 
week’s fun : Monday. — Wheeled for an hour after 
breakfast, with the girls. (That is the only time we 
have been by ourselves since we came.) Walked over 
to the fort ; luncheon ; drove over to the Island, 
and home by the beach ; dinner, music, dancing. Tues- 
day. — Bowling ; oyster roast on the beach. (Wasn’t, 
that jolly ?) Surf bath ; organ recital at Memorial 
Church ; calls. Took a walk with Mr. F . Wed- 

nesday. — Yachting until dinner — gay party ; ball in 
evening. Mr. Arnold, Mr. Frisby, and Philip gave us a 
supper afterward. Thursday. — Played golf; lunched 
at the A s' ; drove on the new St. Augustine Road ; 


7 ° 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


calls ; sat on the loggia with Mr. F , after dinner : 

lovely music. Friday. — Picnic on the beach, wheeled 
out and back ; dress parade at the barracks. Saturday. 
— Billiards ; morning reception ; and musicale ; riding 
party around the city ; evening reception at studios. 
(I'll get a picture for Nell.) 

“Come here, dear, and see who this person is,” 
interrupted Elizabeth suddenly. 

Christine came to the window, and looked down 
into the garden. One glance sent her out on to the 
balcony, where Elizabeth followed. There they stood 
set in the foreign architecture like rosebuds against an 
old granite wall, watching a man who was rapidly 
passing across the grounds below. 

Christine laughed softly. “ Make him look up, Beth. 
Magnetize him.” 

“ You can do that without half trying,” said Eliza- 
beth. “ There — I told you so, he is looking.” 

They both waved their hands and smiled at the up- 
lifted face and doffed hat and then returned to their 
rooms and made the necessary preparation for luncheon 
and the call they knew was imminent. 

“ I wonder where Mrs. Bartlett is ? ” said Elizabeth. 

Christine was too busy to talk. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 




CHAPTER IX. 

EPISODES. 

“Now up, now down. Ah me ! life is difficult.” 

Eleanor tapped at their door and came in, charm- 
ingly gowned, and looking content with herself and 
the world in general. 

“ Here are Mr. Bartlett’s cards, girls. After all I 
said this morning Philip has just come in and says he 
must go to Ormond to-morrow. I will join you in our 
parlor when he is ready. Tell Mr. Bartlett I’m glad 
he has come and will tell him so myself in a few 
moments. Don’t make any plans until we consult to- 
gether. ” 

“Ormond ! who wants to go to Ormond, or any- 
where else away from this enchanting town ? ” said 
Christine, as she followed Elizabeth, to her sister’s 
parlor. 

They found John Bartlett aw T aiting them. He 
seemed a trifle flurried but evidently pleased to be 
greeted so cordially. 

“Mrs. Maxwell sent us in advance, to welcome you 
to St. Augustine. It is a wonderful place, isn’t it ? ” 
said Elizabeth, while Christine smiled upon him in such 
a friendly way and expressed her interest in his plans 
so frankly that his world grew exceedingly rose- 
colored. 


7 * 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


“ A truly wonderful place, Miss Maxwell. Thank 
you very much, Miss Christine. Mother is quite well 
for her, but she misses you all exceedingly, and told 
me just as I left that if you were going to Lake Worth 
before long, and to Miami, she would be glad to join 
you. Of course that would mean including me. I 
seem to be a necessary appendage to my mother’s com- 
fort. ” 

“And a decidedly important one to your friends’ en- 
joyment,” said Elizabeth. It made her indignant to 
see such filial devotion and modesty go so entirely un- 
rewarded by her sister — for that young woman left the 
conversation almost entirely to her, to carry on, and, 
although smiling and attentive, seemed determined to 
maintain a strictly neutral position toward their guest. 

He was in town for a day or two only ; found time 
hanging a bit heavily and fancied change of scene 
might brighten him a little. As he looked at the two 
sisters he thought them even more attractive than ever. 

“You look splendidly well, both of you. St. Augus- 
tine amuses you ? ” 

Christine proceeded to enthuse upon the resources of 
the place — and was in the midst of it when Eleanor and 
Philip came in and made him feel more a part of the 
“ good times ” by inviting him to dine with them at 
the Cordova. 

“It’s the very thing. Unfortunately I cannot be 
there ; simply must attend to some business matters 
before I go to Ormond, and you will take my place. 
Arnold and Frisby will be delighted to find you out. 
You remember them well, I’m sure, and they will take 
good care of you.” 

“I understand we are to meet at the Commissioner’s 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


73 

at luncheon,” said Bartlett. “ He is an old friend of 
the family and the only one I know in town. I ran 
across him just as I came down Cordova Street and he 
insisted upon putting me up.” 

“ You are all right if the Commissioner has taken you 
you in charge,” said Eleanor. “ He seems to know no 
greater pleasure than making every one about him 
thoroughly enjoy themselves, and his wife is an able 
and delightful ally.” 

“It is early yet ; let ns go through the house. You 
never have seen it before, Mr. Bartlett ? ” said Chris- 
tine, who appeared restless. 

“No. It seems like a national museum of fine arts, 
more than a hotel, does it not? I think pictures give 
no idea of the richness and restfulness that distinguishes 
every portion of the building. It certainly combines 
all the advantages of antiquity with those of modern 
luxury, in a curious harmony that leaves the most carp- 
ing critic nothing to catch at. To tell the whole truth, 
I had rather expected to find it either bizarre and gar- 
ish, or painfully contrasted to the really old St. Augus- 
tine, but nothing could be more noble, elevating, and 
educational than the whole effect of the town as it 
now is.” 

Elizabeth’s blue eyes glistened. 

“ I love every inch of it already,” she cried. “Let 
us walk down. I want you to see a lovely corner 
on the second floor directly over the front entrance. 
Here we are. Isn’t that an ideal place for a quiet 
chat ? ” 

Christine looked at Bartlett quickly. She was sur- 
prised at Elizabeth’s manner toward him and suddenly 
possessed of a new idea connected therewith. Find- 



“ I marvel at the architects who built these walls, and curved these 
noble arches.** 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


75 

ing* his eyes fixed on her she colored, without knowing 
why and rather lamely said : 

“ Yes — it is a lovely corner to hear the music in too. 
I sat there all last evening ” 

“ Now let us take the elevator so we may get another 
view that artists do not seem to have perpetuated. 
Passing across the rotunda Elizabeth stopped just at 
the corner, by the porte cochere steps and pointed 
out the fine lines of the stairway to the dining-room 
entrance, the exquisite windows opening above it, and 
the rare color scheme of the wall decoration. 

“ Do you know,” said Elizabeth, pausing a moment 
and looking up into Bartlett’s face, “it seems abso- 
lutely sacrilegious to me to see people treating this 
superb exhibition of art as if it were a mere eating and 
sleeping place. When I hear any one criticise it flip- 
pantly and ignorantly I instinctively think of the warn- 
ing of old about ‘casting pearls/ There is another 
class that drives me wild — the people that estimate 
everything by dollars and cents. The fact that the 
cement used in these St. Augustine hotels cost over 
a million of dollars enthuses them far more than the 
subtle, wonderful fascination of these majestic arches, 
noble vistas and harmonious colors.” 

“ I quite understand, Miss Hunter, and fully sym- 
pathize with you, but there is another thought that 
somewhat balances the pity of it all. No beautiful 
thing either in art or in life is ever wasted. Beauty is 
educational. What the eye sees the mind retains, 
more or less, consciously or unconsciously, and works 
out at some future time. That idea makes a great 
public building of thjs order, to my mind, a practical 
jnissionary of large influent^.” 



The fine lines of the stairway, the exquisite windows, the rich 

color scheme.” 



AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


77 


Elizabeth’s eyes glowed as they always did when 
she was deeply moved, and John Bartlett wondered that 
he never before had noticed how beautiful she was. 
Christine had slipped away. She had pleaded some 
trivial excuse, and left her sister to finish the tour of 
inspection, promising to meet them again in a few 
moments. 

“ That is a comforting thought, indeed. Let us go 
over to the main entrance and get the grandest sweep 
there is from any one point. Now ! could anything 
be more imposing than those oak columns, the cary- 
atides, smiling under the stupendous burden of these 
galleries, and the wealth of allegorical and historic 
paintings and frescos? Is it not a study? — and yet 
parties come here, stay a day or two, and go away 
with the conviction that they have seen the Ponce 
de Leon.” 

“ There are wonderful vistas in every direction,” 
said John Bartlett. “Is the Cordova as beautiful, 
or the Alcazar? Do not be too hard upon the travelling 
public, Miss Hunter. It’s like going to a national 
exhibition. One cannot, with the best intentions in 
the world, digest more than so much sight-seeing in a 
given time — and surely it is best to take what you can, 
and be thankful. Americans seldom have as much 
time as they have inclination to tarry in such places.” 

“ You think me unjust, and indeed you almost make 
me feel myself so,” said Elizabeth, half defiantly, as 
she led the way to the reception-room. “ It is time that 
we joined Eleanor. You must come in again and see 
the parlors and dining-hall.” 

After dinner that evening at the Alcazar, Christine, 



The grandest sweep there is from any one point. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


79 


laughing-, radiant, and ‘ too bewitching for words/ as 
Elizabeth whispered to Eleanor, declared she would 
not go to Ormond or any other place on earth unless 
they promised to come back to St. Augustine for 
another month. 

“We never shall find any such beaches or roads 
further south, nor such good times generally. It’s all 
well enough to see the new hotel at Miami and to go 
to Palm Beach too, I suppose, now we are down here, 
but I wouldn’t mind spending the whole season in dear 
old St. Augustine.” 

She smiled impersonally upon every one present — 
but Bartlett thought her particularly kind to the blond 
man at her left, and fell to studying him for reasons of 
his own. He came to the conclusion that the older of 
his hosts was a fine fellow ; the younger a fascinating 
one. “ Where have I seen him before ?” he thought. 
“Perfectly familiar face. Maxwell supposed I knew 
them both in New York, but I never ran across them 
before to-day that I remember, though Frisby’s manner, 
voice, and — beg pardon, Mrs. Maxwell; did I bring 
my wheel ? certainly. I am to have the honor of acting 
as your ‘ companion de bicycle ' with your permission, 
this evening. 

“ It’s time we were off” said Frisby, with a quick 
look at Christine, who returned it as she rose and 
followed Eleanor and Elizabeth. 

“Be at the side entrance of the Ponce in fifteen 
minutes, gentlemen,” said Eleanor. “We will not 
keep you waiting. ” 

The Commissioner and his charming wife, with a 
dozen more residents, rounded up finely at the appointed 


8o 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


place just as the Cathedral clock struck nine. Among 
the chattering group already awaiting them stood John 
Bartlett — tall, quiet, thoughtful. He leaned against 
the granite entrance column and contemplated the 
wonderful picture, bathed in Florida moonlight. 

Behind him stretched the Ponce de Leon, luminous 
from tower to base from within ; silvered and shadowed, 
by turn, without. Across the Alameda gleamed the 
Alcazar with its foreground of indefinite tropical foliage 
and ribboned pathways. To the east, silhouetted 
against the cloudless sky, rose the turrets and towers of 
the Cordova, every balcony and casement suggesting 
romance and history ; in front lay the open plaza, the 
old city centre; its palm trees rustling in the evening 
breeze and its flowering shrubs uniting the peculiar 
fragrance of nature’s hours of refreshment, dewy and 
sweet. By its side, on the north, stretched the broad 
street to the water, with its three hundred years’ history 
of crimson struggles, pious labors, and intervals of in- 
ertia, — the only remaining monument of the past — the 
triple bell tower of the cathedral — looking like a ghost 
of olden days. 

* ‘ What tales that moon could tell ! ” said a voice 
at his elbow. 

“Miss Hunter? I did not know you were here. 
Isn’t this a perfect night? Ah ! Mrs. Maxwell — all 
ready ? ” 

“We will go across the bridge ; — follow your leader,” 
cried the Commissioner, as he mounted his wheel and 
led the way with a splendid-looking young matron 
who seemed to be related to almost every one in the 
party and was called by turn “Miss Jeanne” and 
“Jennie,” although the wife of a distinguished man 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 81 

who was then acting as escort to her pretty sister, and 
the step-mother of a youth everybody called “Jack.” 

There was the wife of Judge S , riding with the 

most popular physician of St. Augustine, while her 
daughter and a bevy of friends gave the aforesaid Jack 
all he could do to hold his own. Avery Arnold had 
been allotted to Elizabeth, and an extremely good-look- 
ing couple they made as they scorched over the perfect 
road, while Christine and Harold Frisby contented 
themselves with bringing up the rear, apparently enjoy- 
ing each other as much as they did their surroundings, 
if not more. 

During the previous week’s social gathering every 
one but John Bartlett had grown quite familiar and 
friendly with each other, meeting constantly as they 
had, and under the influence of the night, the moon- 
light, and the delicious air, they felt all the freedom and 
charm of tried and tested acquaintance — for pleasant 
memories, even if only a few days old, build founda- 
tions for many a life* story. 

“Jack — son — don’t ! ’’ cried “Miss Jeanne,” as that 
popular but impulsive young man wound up a series 
of practical jokes by turning his bicycle lamp full upon 
a youth and maiden who happened to have stopped to 
rest under the shadow of a beached boat. They were 
old chums, and stood in no need of special solitude, but 
were innocently enjoying a few minutes’ pause, when 
Jack’s stentorian “ Lights out” drew every one’s atten- 
tion to them in such a marked way that there was 
nothing for it but shrieks of laughter, a sham pursuit 
of the practical joker, and the young mother’s laugh- 
ing protest. 

“I’ve always noticed,” said the Commissioner, as 

6 


82 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


most of the party followed the example of the perse- 
cuted friends and stacked their wheels, grouping them- 
selves about the convenient old hulk, — “that the surest 
way of changing any subject of conversation is to in- 
troduce the wheel ! " (with a suggestive look in Jack's 
direction). “No matter whether it is business, reli- 
gion, or politics, you can make any one who knows 
anything about w T heeling stop whatever they are dis- 
cussing by asking * What gear do you ride ? ’ ” 

“ That is so,” said Arnold. “It is perfectly amazing 
what a universal hold the bicycle has upon men, 
women, and children, and there can be no question of 
the good it does in many ways. You will find women, 
particularly, now riding their ten, twelve, twenty miles 
a day, that five years ago never thought of walking any- 
where or exercising out-of-doors beyond a conventional 
and most uninteresting constitutional." 

“ Vide your humble servant," cried a fair-haired 
young woman from the West, who was sitting next the 
Commissioner’s wife. “ And I learned down here, at 
the Casino, and doubt if I ever should have had the 
courage to begin anywhere else ; but we formed a small 
club of people who knew each other, and all agreed 
to get up at sunrise every morning until we could ride 
well enough to go on the road. We practiced in the 
Casino Square, with a teacher, and soon got over the 
first fears. It was perfectly delicious out of doors so 
early. Yes, it was ; you needn’t laugh, Jack." 

“Oh, no ; I’m not laughing, Mrs. Scott. I’m leaving 
that to Mr. Scott. He did not mind talking to me then ; 
I was such a kid, you see. You thought he did not 
know how to ride, didn’t you ? Ha ! ha ! " 

“Now, Jack, you dreadful boy ! " cried Mrs. Scott, 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 83 

while her husband remarked calmly that he had no 
fault to find with Jack. “All was fair in love and war,” 
and so long as his confidence had not been belied 
while his battle was being fought, he did not mind. 
“In fact, I’ll show you a picture of our club, taken by 
a local artist, ostensibly for all the members, but really 
that I might have a good and faithful likeness of Miss 
Weatland, the present Mrs. Scott.” 

“I tell you — when my turn comes, I shall know all 
the dodges ! I’ve not lived in St. Augustine for noth- 
ing ! ” declared Master Jack, as he bent his laughing 
eyes upon the group. 

“Do you have such nights all through the winter ? ” 
asked Mrs. Maxwell. “ Can you depend upon them ? ” 

“With the exception of occasional northers, when 
it is too chilly to tarry by the way in this fashion, 
although rarely if ever uncomfortable for straight-away 
riding. The beach is not always available on account 
of high tides, but our roads never fail us unless it rains,” 
said the Commissioner. 

He did not look “the dangers he had passed,” 
although the hero of terrible experiences in more than 
one South Florida pioneering undertaking. No one 
knew every inch of the state and its possibilities better, 
nor had any one man, worked harder for its best 
interests. 

“ And how is it in the summer? ” asked some one. 

“No better and no worse than the average sea- 
shore place along the Jersey coast, I fancy. Mosqui- 
toes ? Yes— in both places. Malaria? Not a bit. ” 

‘ ‘ Where is Christine, ” whispered Elizabeth to Eleanor. 

“ I thought she was over there by Mrs. S , but that’s 

Miss Chamberlain.” 





A picture of our club. 



AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


*5 


No Christine was to be seen — and no Frisby. 

Eleanor did not like to make inquiries. They were all 
sitting where a sudden indentation in the shore had 
thrown up a slight sand-bank and, probably the two 
had wandered just out of sight. 

A movement was made just then to proceed, and it 
seemed unnecessary to remark upon their absence, 
though a trifle odd that no one seemed to have ob- 
served it. 

On they all sped without the restrictions of street or 
city, but the two sisters made their wheels fairly fly, and 
by curious mental telegraphy both escorts recog- 
nized absent-mindedness if not anxiety in their com- 
panions who talked little and seemed intent upon out- 
speeding the others. 

They were now close upon the bridge and yet noth- 
ing was to be seen of the missing ones. 

When — breathless and troubled — they reached the 
hotel, Eleanor said to Mr. Bartlett, “I believe I am 
very tired and I know Elizabeth is, from her eyes. 
Will you be kind enough to make our excuses to the 
Commissioner and his wife, and say to them that if they 
are not in too great haste we would be very glad to 
have them come in before they go home.’' Then look- 
ing straight into his eyes, while Elizabeth was saying 
her good-night to Arnold, she said, “I can trust you to 
manage our rather unceremonious leave-taking with 
the rest. See, I have torn my skirt ! You will break- 
fast with us at nine ? Thanks — Good-night. ” 


86 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


CHAPTER X. 

THE LOST FOUND. 

“ While fancy, freed from the chains of day, 

Through the shadowy dreamland floats away.” 

“ Where can they be ? ” 

Both looked the question, as they raised the light in 
their parlor, and discovered anxious faces to each other. 

“I do wish Philip would 00010,” said Eleanor. 

Elizabeth seemed stricken dumb. She sat down by 
the window and looked across the court, wishing she 
could see through the enclosing wing and out over the 
way they had just come. 

Christine had not seemed quite natural since she 
came to St. Augustine. Something was on her mind, 
and that something she had not talked over with any 
one — unless it was Harold Frisby. Certainly she had 
spent a great many hours with him. Elizabeth could 
not understand her, but she loved her almost to idolatry, 
and never before had felt shut out from her entire con- 
fidence. So far as John Bartlett was concerned — to be 
sure, Christine had been quite as reticent, but there was 
no special reason for talking about a man the whole 
family knew as well as they did John Bartlett. Of 
course Eleanor and she had thought that Christine was 
very much interested in that direction : that something 
had happened early in the autumn which unnerved 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 87 

Christine and sent Bartlett out of town. And they both 
had decided. in Jacksonville, that everything was com- 
fortably settled between the two, after all, and it was 
only a question of time before congratulations would 
be called for. No one could make any objections to 
such a fine fellow ! she could think of no one any more 
desirable for Christine” — and here Elizabeth’s self- 
communing was interrupted by a knock at the door 
and the entrance of the Commissioner and his wife. 

After cordial greetings Eleanor said, “ My sister 
Christine and Mr. Frisby have not yet returned. Are 
they outside ? ” 

“No, everybody had gone before we came in,” 
answered the Commissioner. “When did you see them 
last ? I thought everybody was over the bridge before 
us, didn’t you ? ” turning to his wife. 

“There certainly was no one in sight behind us, 
but you know they might have lingered longer than 
they realized, and especially as neither of them, 
probably, knew about the bridge being closed at half- 
past ten o’clock. Don’t be anxious a bit, Mrs. Max- 
well. That is just what has happened ! We will send 
over for them, either by boat or bridge, and they will 
be here in an hour.” 

“ You are very kind,” said Eleanor. ‘ ‘I am afraid I 
am not proving myself a very reliable chaperon. My 
sister will be extremely uncomfortable. Do you not 
think Elizabeth and I had better ride back with you to 
meet her. I think we will, if you do not mind.” 

Eleanor’s voice expressed a decision that was fully 
equal to setting aside any degree of opposition on the 
the part of any number of people, so the four, 
augmented by Philip, who came in at that moment 


88 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


and John Bartlett, who met them on Cordova Street, 
sallied forth, every one but Bartlett treating the 
matter as a good joke. He was doing a great deal of 
thinking : had been doing a great deal ever since his 
arrival in the city. Could it be only that morning ? 
It seemed to him ages. 

He fell in with Elizabeth. Neither seemed inclined 
to talk. Elizabeth was thinking, too. 

It was another hour before the reunion of the sisters 
and the return to the hotel. 

Christine’s cheeks blazed, and she seemed unnatur- 
ally quiet. 

“She is tired out,” thought Eleanor. 

“She is annoyed,” thought Elizabeth. 

“She is in love,” thought Philip. 

What John Bartlett and Harold Frisby thought they 
gave no signs of. 

The former promised to see them in the morning. 
The latter joked about his stupidity, apologized all 
around, and as he bowed before Christine whispered : 
“ Heaven grant me another opportunity soon.” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


89 


CHAPTER XI. 

OFF TO ORMOND. 

“ O sun, that followest the night, 

In yon blue sky, serene and pure.” 

“ Ten-thirty-five, did you say ? We are in good 
time. Have you engaged these rooms for March, 
dear ? ” asked Eleanor, the next morning, as she put 
the finishing touches on her hair, hat, and veil, without 
which women feel at sad disadvantage. 

“Yes, and an extravagant thing it is too, but what 
you say goes.’’ 

Eleanor turned her head a trifle and gave a parting 
pat to the fluffy waves on her temples as she said : 
“ Don’t lay it on my shoulders. You know you would 
not stay in any other house in St. Augustine, and you 
must be here' in March. Besides, I am sure we get 
full measure of comfort. Now — are the wheels sent 
on ? They say we shall use them all the way down. ” 

“They go on our train. Hurry down, Nell. I 
must say a word to Mac. I’ll meet you at the door.” 

Most of the bicycle party were at the station to see 
them off. 

As the train moved away, Christine kept her eyes 
fixed on Frisby. Eleanor and Philip exchanged hearty 


9 o 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


farewells with everybody, and Elizabeth’s last word 
was for John Bartlett. 

“ We are so glad you are to follow soon. Remem- 
ber us to your mother. ” 

‘‘This is comfortable,” said Eleanor, as they looked 
around the parlor-car of the East Coast line, “and we 
have but a short run. We are due at Ormond about 
one, aren’t we, Philip ? ” 

“To be accurate, we should arrive at Ormond 
station at twelve-fifty-six, and at Ormond-on-Halifax 
some fifteen minutes later. The hotel is on the other 
side of the river. It is, I am told, in every way a 
home-like family house, where people go year after 
year for real Southern country life. You can be as 
quiet or as jolly as you please. Did I not hear some 
one sighing for a ‘ place to be quiet in ’ the other day ? ” 

“I daresay,” answered Eleanor, absently. “ I al- 
ways sigh for such a place whenever I feel tired. This 
morning I do not seem to yearn for solitude in the 
least. How is it with you, girls ? ” 

Elizabeth was watching the country, and seemed 
quite absorbed in its level reaches of pines, its patches 
of tobacco, corn, garden vegetables, young orange- 
groves, and scattered houses. She did not hear 
Eleanor’s question, but Christine said : 

“ If Ormond is quiet, let’s hurry along to the Royal 
Poinciana. Nothing fatigues me but dulness.” 

“If father could only see you, Tiny, he would not - 
worry any more about your health, would he, dear?’’ 
said Eleanor; “though lam afraid he would have 
thought me a careless creature, very often, in letting 
you go, as you have, from early morning to midnight. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


9 1 

It certainly is amazing- what change of climate has 
done for you.” 

Christine looked up at her sister as though she were 
going to say something. There was a curious expres- 
sion of indecision on her face for an instant. Philip 
was hidden from sight behind a paper, and Elizabeth 
was still intent upon the view from her window. 
Practically, they were alone. Instead of speaking, 
however, she put up her hand and fastened back some 
escaping strands of hair, and then, smiling and slightly 
shrugging her shoulders, patted Eleanor’s hand and 
opening a book devoted herself to its contents. 

“ How can you read, Tiny, when there is so much 
to see? ” asked Elizabeth, a few moments after. 

“A straight line and a pine ; what else?” answered 
Christine, glancing over at her sister. Eleanor was 
deep in “In Biscayne Bay.” 

Philip looked up from the paper he was reading, and 
said : “If you care to look over this publication you 
will discover a number of interesting facts about this 
very country, flat, and far from interesting, as it may 
seem to your youthful eyes. What is it ? * The 

Home-seeker,’ a monthly, published by our esteemed 
friend, the Commissioner, or by the Land Department, 
under his management. It seems to be a compliment- 
ary, not to say educational medium, through which all 
this section of the country is set forth, to those who 
will read, but especially to those thinking of settling 
anywhere along the coast. Listen to this. It puts 
the whole matter concisely, and is worth remembering. 
I won’t read the whole article, which is called : ‘ The 
East Coast of Florida,’ but will cull the points. 
4 The main source of its productiveness is its sunshine, 


92 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


There are, on an average, 240 days with clear sky 
during the year ; the rainfall is more than sufficient to 
sustain the moisture in the soil the year round, while 
the noon-sun never sinks so low that its rays lose their 
warming power ; for the agriculturist there is no such 
thing as a “ dead time ; ” his soil is always active; 
should a single crop fail, the same land will, a few 
months after, pay him back his loss/ Now let us 
see what is said about the crops that can be counted 
on. "January, temperature 50 to 78 degrees above 
zero. Fresh vegetables from garden and field ; to- 
matoes, egg-plant, and strawberries. February, March, 
and April, much the same. May, corn ready for table. 
June, harvesting of pine-apple, and grape crops, culti- 
vation of tobacco. July, temperature 76 to 90 degrees 
— cool nights ; no sun-strokes. Frequent showers. 
Corn, pineapples, and other fruits still harvested and 
shipped. August, new pineapple fields planted. Sep- 
tember, fall crops planted ; limes, lemons, guavas, 
etc., harvested; strawberry plants set out. October, 
temperature 70 to 88. Frequent rains, fall crops begin 
to ripen. November, 60 to 70 degrees. Oranges and 
all citrus fruits begin to be harvested. December, 50 
to 76 degrees with occasional -white frosts in northern 
sections. Set out fruit trees and ship citrus fruits/ 

“Now listen to this summing up of results. 

“ ‘Minimum net return of pineapples per acre $250. 
Average net profits from one acre of lemons, oranges, 
and grape-fruit $200. I11 sections where vegetables 

are grown and marketed from December to April, net 
profits run from $250 to $500 per acre. Strawberries 
in December and January bring from 75 cents to $1.00 
per quart, at home. ’ ” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


93 


Elizabeth had listened intently without withdrawing 
her eyes from the fleeting views outside. Evidently 
she was interested in the practical side of Floridian 
life. 

“I really cannot see why people with pittances stay 
North, if they can be sure of making such incomes from 
a few acres. Is the land high ? ” she said, turning to 
her brother-in-law. 

“Here is what the ‘ Home-seeker’ says about it,” 
he answered, pleased to have aroused enthusiasm 
upon his latest hobby, for Philip Maxwell, aside from 
mechanical matters was a philanthropist, and, accord- 
ing to his resources, was continually promoting 
schemes that promised quick and good results for the 
masses. 

“Lying in Duval, St. John’s (we are going through 
that now), Putnam, and Volusia counties, between the 
St. John’s River and the Atlantic Ocean, are 300,000 
acres of farming, grazing, and timber lands owned by 
the Florida East Coast Railway Company, that are of- 
fered for sale at from $1. 50 to $5.00 per acre,” and here 
are the terms of sale. ‘ In three to four yearly pay- 
ments, eight per cent, interest. Special prices and 
terms in large tracts for all cash or location for 
colonies.’ ” 

“ That seems low enough for anybody to be able to 
pay, doesn’t it ? ” said Elizabeth, who looked as though 
she was working out a problem of great personal im- 
portance, “but that means uncleared land, I suppose. 
How much does it cost to prepare it for crops ? ” 

“Hold on a minute. It will tell somewhere here, 
I expect. Yes, from $15 to $40 an acre, to clear pine 
land, like this we see all about, and $50 to $75 for 


94 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


hammock, that is what they call such hard wood 
forests as we came through between Jacksonville and 
St. Augustine, that you thought so beautiful. ” 

“That is quite a sum,” said Elizabeth, knitting her 
brows and collapsing into deep thought. 



“ See the launch.* * 

They now were within a few miles of Ormond. The 
last station passed was Harwood. 

Eleanor threw down her book when she heard it 
called, and looked about, saying, 

“We must be near the pretty river the Commissioner 
told us to watch for. We go right over it. What’s the 
name, Beth?” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


95 


“The Tomoka, and that must be it. How lovely the 
banks are ! See the launch ! They are having a good 
time.” 

Every one looked up and down the picturesque 
streiam hurriedly, for the train was making good time. 
Philip’s eyes were wonderfully keen, and he made the 
best possible use of them, exclaiming, “Why, there are 
some people I met in St. Augustine last week. We are 
invited to their place on the Halifax above the Ormond. 
The proprietor is the best of jolly company, and tells a 
story as well as Chauncey the Great. Now isn’t this bit 
of country fine? Splendid great trees, eh? Here we 
are, right on time. Did you ever see such sunshine? 
makes me think of Robbie Burns’s lines, 

“ ‘ Mild, calm, serene, 

Wide spreads the noontide blaze.’ 

Hurry up, girls. Christine, cheer up. Here are new 
worlds to conquer.” 


9 6 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


CHAPTER XII. 

ORMOND-ON-HALIFAX. 

“ The sylvan pomp of woods, the golden sun, 

The flowers, the leaves, the river on its way, 

Blue skies, and silver clouds and gentle winds.” 

Ormond, with its magnificent trees, its pleasant 
homes, its riverfront, and — shades of Northern civiliza- 
tion ! — its tally-ho, awaited our travellers, in bravest, 
most beguiling guise. 

Philip Maxwell had a positive genius for stepping 
into life’s best places, apparently without any effort or 
premeditation. 

The party under his leadership, profiting by this 
characteristic, found themselves in possession of seats 
on top of the coach, and also of an outlook upon the 
country that became more and more charming with 
every turn of the road. 

“We’ve seen no such trees as these before, have 
we?” said Eleanor. “I suppose all this region was 
once a thick primeval forest.” 

“No doubt of it — and they cannot spoil its impress- 
iveness for many years to come,” said Philip. “ What 
huge live-oaks! Now we get the Spanish moss, in 
its luxuriance, and when we can make investigations 
I am sure we shall find many new features in the 
growth. Do you not notice how much more promi- 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


97 


nent the palmetto becomes, all through the country 
within a few miles north of Ormond? We are now 
in a great hammock that stretches many miles south, 
on the west bank of the coast river that really begins 
at St. Augustine or even at the mouth of the St. John’s 
River and runs south to Biscayne Bay. As it is broken 
up by swamps and inlets, it bears a dozen or more 
names, however. At St. Augustine it was Matanzas 
River. Along here, at Daytona, and some miles below, 
it is the Halifax. New Smyrna where the Mexicans 
suffered so much, is on the Hillsborough River. 
Titusville, a mightily energetic town, I am told, is on 
the Indian River and so is Rockledge and a dozen or 
more places. Lake Worth itself is a part of the same 
stream and so is New River and Dumfounding Bay. 
What do you think of that for a river length? Fully 
three hundred and seventy miles ! ” 

“I don’t see how you remember names and dis- 
tances so accurately,” said Christine. “ If everything 
else fails, you can earn an honest living by acting as 
courier.” 

“No, my dear, not until I learn to memorize unin- 
teresting data, like the hours for closing bridges ” 

“Philip /” whispered Elizabeth beseechingly. 

Eleanor, being on the driver’s seat, had lost both 
information and brotherly fling, but now unconsciously 
played the timely act of peacemaker. “There is the 
Halifax and there is Hotel Ormond, girls ! I feel sure 
we shall like it ! ‘ Sweetly sylvan ’ is a correct allit- 

eration. Just see this horse-car. Dear me ! I suppose 
they have telephones in all these cottages and messen- 
ger service, too ! ” 

The driver laughed. “ No, ma’am — not over here, 

7 


98 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

but they will furnish all the messengers you want at 
the hotel, and I guess some of the cottages over there 
have telephones, too. I think somebody said Number 
Nine had one, away up the other end of the river.’* 

“ Who’s Number Nine? ” asked Eleanor. 

“ He’s one of the first settlers over there has a fine 
place. Everybody knows Number Nine : can’t be beat 
telling stories and singing songs and raising things. 
You’ll go up there, 1 guess.” 



“ How gay the river looks, Beth ! Perhaps we shall 
enjoy ourselves fora few days,” said Christine, with 
as unruffled composure as if she had not heard her 
teasing relative. 

The verandas looked deliciously shady and cool, 
and the office still more so with its huge baskets of 
flowers, pots of ferns, and miniature palms generously 
disposed in every available nook and corner. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


99 

‘‘No Ponce de Leon grandeur here/’ said Philip, 
“but lots of fun, I should think — look at that string of 
fish, evidently just caught. I must make that man’s 
acquaintance and see what luck I have. Hullo ! here 
are familiar faces. Well, now, this is great ! Do you 
know, I never thought, until this moment, that you 
and Price were down here. Queer, too. My dear — you 
remember our hosts at the Mount Pleasant House ?” 

Eleanor remembered,' very pleasantly, the weeks 
passed under those genial managers’ regime, and 
greeted them both cordially. 

“I think it is very odd that Mr. Maxwell should not 
have told us that you were here, but you know him 
of old ! He is just the same preoccupied up-in-the- 
seventh-heaven man that he was in your New Hamp- 
shire hotel. If you have anything for him to investi- 
gate in the steam department it might bring him down 
to actual facts a bit,” laughed Eleanor, as she turned 
to see what had become of her sisters. 

They were in Europe while the Maxwells spent the 
summer at the Mount Pleasant House, and so had 
never seen the Hotel Ormond managers, but it did 
not take long for them to feel at home in their new 
quarters, and that very evening Elizabeth was besieged 
to sing in a programme given in the Casino for the 
entertainment of the guests. 

“There are many lovers of good music here, Miss 
Hunter, but unfortunately no vocalist. Do favor us. 
Everybody does what they can. We are like a great 
family, you know,” said popular Mrs. Dean, one of the 
habitues of the house, who had been presented in the 
afternoon and taken them all out in her launch, up the 
lovely Tomoka. 


100 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


“ Such charming girls ! ” she had said, as the sisters 
came out from lunch. “ Mr. Price, I must meet them ; 
introduce the husband, please.” 

The excursion had been a delightful one. 

The new acquaintances made, proved interesting. 
Christine’s spirits resumed their usual flow under the in- 
fluence of rival devotion. Elizabeth forgot her reserve 
enough to burst into various cadences and birdy trills 
that made every one eager to hear her again, and 
Eleanor looked the content she felt in the tropical set- 
tings, the social harmony, and the knowledge that her 
beloved spouse was enjoying himself in his own way 
— fishing. 

Mrs. Dean made herself invaluable to their enjoy- 
ment, both socially and as pioneer, for she knew every 
point of interest within twenty miles of Ormond, 
was a skilled horsewoman, and bicyclist ; loved the 
water, the woods, the climate — everything and every- 
body that was lovable. Indeed it seemed her religion 
to radiate happiness, and wherever she was, there 
reigned good-will and peace. 

In a hotel like the Ormond, such a woman naturally 
became a power, and so full of tact and charm was 
her sway that none of the ordinary hotel envy and dis- 
cord seemed to find footing or scope. As some one 
said of her, “She is just like sunshine.” 

After the afternoon’s courtesy and enjoyment, 
Elizabeth could not very well refuse the request that 
she should sing. Moreover, she always enjoyed sing- 
ing. It was no effort, and she did not know what self- 
consciousness was. She was particular about condi- 
tions, for artistic reasons, and had not been heard in 
St. Augustine because other things had seemed to 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


IOI 


crowd out proper opportunities, but she had promised to 
sing in the noble Memorial Church when they returned 
— and now — “Yes, certainly, if you really wish it, 
Mrs. Dean/' she said — “What shall I sing, Eleanor? ” 

The Casino was crowded. Everybody waited. 
Only the surf, pounding on the beach, broke the 
silence. Elizabeth stood before them, erect, calm, 
beautiful. Her white arms and neck gleamed like 
marble against the rose-colored gown. Her eyes 
seemed fixed on higher things than any material 
horizon ; her sensitive lips parted tenderly, as the 
words were borne upon her rich full tones — 

" I stood by an open window, and looked out over the sea.” 

Eleanor bent over the piano and touched the keys 
as though they were flowers. 

She needed no notes. Every one was stamped upon 
her heart as upon Elizabeth’s. 

“ Again the Heavens opened, 

And all through the sunset’s glow 
The angel came for my darling, 

And gladly I let her go.” 

sang the delicious voice. 

People were nothing to her. All she saw was the open 
heavens — the self-abnegation — the supreme sacrifice. 
Her slender figure swayed forward. Her face turned 
still more toward the mental picture, and as the last 
words pulsated through the hall, 

“ And watched— till both — were gone,” 

hearts stood still in deepest sympathy, and for a mo- 
ment a hush fell upon the audience ; tears stood in 


102 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


eyes unused to impulsive demonstrations, and even 
the unmusical yielded homage to the singer. 

Then came a storm of applause and imperious de- 
mands for another selection. Without delay Elizabeth 
gave it to them : a dashing bravura full of vocal tech- 
nic, sparkle, swing, and melody, that made a negro just 
outside say to his companion, “ Dat soun’s jes’ like er 
mocking-bird, sure.” 

Mrs. Dean met Elizabeth with outstretched hands — 
‘‘My dear, you are an artist. What a treat you have 
given us ! You and Mrs. Maxwell. We can’t half 
thank you. ” 

“Don’t try, Mrs. Dean. Iam sure no one enjoys 
singing as much as I do, and Eleanor never is happier 
than when she is at the piano. As for Christine — 
make her recite some of her funny things.” 

“Beth, I do wish you would keep quiet. Mrs. Dean 
will think we are professional entertainers,” cried Chris- 
tine, who was no more averse to “reciting” than to 
other forms of enjoyment, but shrank from being forced 
upon people by her own family. 

There was no escape for her, however, and after the 
first, she yielded to encore after encore, until Eleanor 
cried out, “ Oh, Tiny dear — I’m tired laughing — do 
stop.” Then the orchestra struck up a perfect waltz, 
and the struggle for dances with “the sisters,” as every 
one called them, continued until “Home, sweet 
home ” was played. 

“To-morrow morning you must drive with me,” 
said Mrs. Dean to Eleanor. “ We will go in an eight- 
seated wagon and call at Number Nine. Good-night. 
You can’t help sleeping well here.” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


103 


CHAPTER XIII. 

“number nine.” 

“ I wished for that which now I see fulfilled 
So marvellously exceeding all my wishes.” 

“All aboard ! ” rang the cheery voice of Mrs. Dean, 
directly after breakfast the next morning. 

Philip had gone off shooting with some men he had 
met the night before. 

“You can drive almost anywhere, but you seldom 
find such game as they promise me to-day. Thank 
Mrs. Dean for me, Nell dear, — and enjoy yourself.” 

“ Mr. Dean will drive, and, Mrs. Maxwell, he asks 
me to engage you for the front seat. I am going back 
here to keep Ned Blackwood in order. The rest of 
you may arrange yourselves as you like.” 

Irvington Dean made his appearance at that moment 
and assumed direction of the party. He never would 
have won Molly Dean if he had not been as manly as 
he was courtly, and now his quick wits soon brought 
order out of momentary chaos, and they drove off well 
suited with each other and their present world. 

“This rural cottage we call Trapper’s Lodge,” he 
announced, as they passed a vine-covered building 
near the hotel on the road to “Number Nine.” 

“ It was built by our friend Anderson when he and 
his associates first cleared the forest for this orange 



«S/ 






Wwrf 


“ This we call Trapper’s Lodge.” 



AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


grove which is known as the Santa Lucia Grove. The 
oranges from this region have long been famous. I 
think you will see encouraging proofs of the rapid 
revival from effects of the great frost, before we get 
back.” 

‘ ‘ What a delightful road this is, ” said Eleanor. “ It is 
as hard as concrete. Nothing has amazed me so much, 
in Florida, as the splendid roads we have found, in- 
stead of the sand we fully expected to plough through.” 

“I think the driving and riding as well as wheel- 
ing facilities of this region, in particular, are its greatest 
attraction next to the superb climate. This shell de- 
posit lends itself to comparatively cheap handling, on 
roads and bicycle paths, and makes them hard and 
durable. I think one could go quite forty miles with- 
out missing good level roads, or repeating the drive. 
Do you not all ride wheels ? ” asked Mr. Dean. 

“Yes, indeed. We brought ours down and used 
them every day in St. Augustine, and a good deal in 
Jacksonville. Oh, how lovely this drive is ! I wish we 
could know more about these unfamiliar flowers and 
shrubs. It looks so much more tropical here than any- 
thing we have yet seen.” 

“ This bar of land, between the river and the sea is 
hardly more than half a mile wide and is nearly 
covered with pines and scrub-oak, outside of this ham- 
mock. You see what cultivation does all along here, 
and when we get to Number Nine our friend will point 
out details. To tell the truth I know more about the 
sea than the land.” 

Christine was carrying on a spirited discussion with 
a Chicago man upon the relative merits of that City 
and New York j not that she or he cared a whit about 


lo6 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

either above the other. Elizabeth was listening in- 
tently to an Englishman’s low-toned dissertation upon 
her latest problem, South Florida farming ; and Mrs. 
Dean was deep in a plot with Ned Blackwood, that 
the immediate future promised to unfold. 

“There is Mr. P ’s home and his orange-grove. 

Now, if you do not mind stopping a moment you will 
see a specimen of quick growth. What do you think 



An Ormond Home. 

of that ?” pointing to an orange tree just inside the 
fence with a wooden sign near it upon which was 
written Nov. 7th, 1896, Ormond. 

“ Most encouraging, surely,” said Eleanor. “ What 
a pretty tree it is too ; just count the oranges. I 
should think there were at least fifty on it.” 

On they went, laughing, joking, singing. 

Once they caught sight of a devoted couple — newly 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 107 

married, and entirely absorbed in each other — just dis- 
appearing down a secluded walk. 



An encouraging specimen. 


“ Such glimpses are indigenous to Ormond,” laughed 
Mrs. Dean. 

“Now we are coming into the grounds of the one 



108 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

and only C. A. B. which does not stand for Cab, but 
for a loyal Floridean, by adoption, a loyal American 
who was tried by fire in the Civil War, and we flatter 
ourselves, our loyal friend,” — said Mr. Dean, as he 
proceeded at a fine pace up to the door of a surprisingly 
colonial house that in no way indicated the years of 
labor which had preceded its erection except in their 
resultant power to plan generously and tastefully. 


Ormond Romance. 

“Now, tell us all about it, Mr. B ,” begged a 

chorus of voices, after having been welcomed by the 
pioneer and his “little wife,” as he called her. 

“Come out under the trees, then, and I’ll see what 
I can remember.” 

“Never mind about romancing,” began the hero of 
Number Nine, with a merry twinkle in his eyes. “You 
young people can look out for all that, I had fought 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMA ATE. 


109 

in thirteen battles, and been wounded three times, in 
the Civil War, and began to long for a piece of God’s 
footstool we could call ours, where no man could come 
and raise our rent. We loved nature, and our ambi- 
tion was to go into the woods, on an island if possible, 
and hew out our own ideal of a home in the virgin 
forest. In March, 1876, I arrived on the banks of the 
Halifax with fifty cents and a plug hat. ‘Why, that 
fellow is a dude. He will stay here about a week/ 
people said. Twenty years have passed, and we are 
here still. April sixth, I engaged a man and sail-boat, 
and he took me up the river and left me alone in the 
woods, five miles from a human being. I built a 
campfire, dug a well in a hollow, cooked and ate my 
supper, lit my pipe and was the happiest man on 
earth, for did not I own all I could see ? 

“My ‘ Uncle Sam ’ had given me three-quarters of a 
mile front on the river, and one-half mile front on the 
ocean. 1 built a palmetto house, and began to enlarge 
a circle around it ; worked every moment of daylight, 
and at times, by moonlight ; even trying a lantern. I 
had an object in view. My plans were laid for ten 
years ahead. Was I lonesome ? Oh, no. Almost 
any day I would see from one to five or six deer feed- 
ing in my clearing. One day, while I was eating 
dinner at my table, near my campfire, a bear trotted 
along past me, within fifty feet of me. I was out of 
meat, or I would not have shot him, for all these ani- 
mals are the best of neighbors— do not gossip, have 
ho scandal ; care nothing about any one’s affairs but 
their own. At night the coons, possums and wild-cats 
would visit my camp, tip over my pots and kettles, 
and drag off my shoes. Owls of all sizes would light 


I IO 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


on the branches over my head and talk to me. ‘ Ah, 
wha ! Ah, wha ! Ah, wha ! ’ One morning, at daylight, 
I heard someone washing in my basin on a stump, 
and looking out, saw a little owl taking his bath. 

“I said I dug a well, but I only cleaned out one that 
probably was made and used by a race inhabiting this 
country before the Indians, perhaps a thousand years 
ago. Perhaps they were the mound builders, for we 
find fragments of clay pottery six feet under the 
solid shell, and our Indians never knew the art of 
pottery. 

“You have read the story of ‘Seven Oaks,' by J. G. 
Holland? Up the river from Seven Oaks was Jim 
Fenton’s camp, and its name was ‘Number Nine.’ 
It seemed just the name for this place, and so we de- 
cided on it. 

“I went up the Tomoka ten' miles, and cut down 
cypress trees seven feet in diameter, sawed the trunks 
into blocks, split the blocks into ‘bolts,’ rafted them 
to our camp, and made a thousand shingles for our 
first house ; for ‘ houses built by one’s own blows, 
make the surest covering for his head.’ 

“Sam Dow, John Anderson and Charlie Fox, ‘Trap- 
per's Lodge Boys,’ used to visit me almost weekly, 
remain over night, and carry back to the village one 
or more deer, brought down by Sam’s unerring aim 
and big gun. I used hollow palmetto logs, sawed 
into two-foot lengths, and stood on end for chairs : 
very light and quite comfortable, thank you ! 

“I remember how proud I was of the first sawed 
board I found on the beach, to make npy table of. 

“We built our first house in 1880, after the wreck of 
the steamer Vera Cruz, and nearly all the frame of the 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


ill 


house is built of her deck plank, and three of the doors 
were her cabin doors. 

“ Do you know anything about wrecks? 

“ She foundered and went to pieces about twenty-five 
miles out. Imagine a raft of wreckage five miles long, 
solid ! Imagine finding the body of a man on the 
sand. Is he alive? almost: his watch is ticking. 
Tons of pork in four hundred pound cases ; case after 
case of lard in five, ten, and twenty pound cans. 
Barrels of pears, cases of seventy-two dozen eggs; 
beach strewn with Edam cheeses, sperm candles. 
Hallo ! here is a drug-store busted ! surgical instru- 
ments, sponges, a case of five hundred boxes of pills. 
Ah, poor fellow, see the spike holes in his breast ! 
handsome man ! we will bury him over the bank. 
Three hundred tierces of lard, just about here. Kero- 
sene oil ? No, I have just put up over the bank twenty- 
five five-gallon cans. Assistant Engineer, with only 
his trousers on, looking for his brother. ‘ This is the 
third and last wreck forme/ ‘Sixty-seven lives lost, 
did you say ? ’ Seventy vessels lost on the coast of 
Florida in that gale, and we built houses from the 
wreckage. Alas ! alack ! Well, never mind, such is 
life, and death. 

“We girdled the timber on two acres, and set two hun- 
dred orange trees ; then cleared half an acre, and set a 
nursery of seedling orange trees that we had raised in 
beds and at the end of two years we sold one half the 
trees on that half acre for sixteen hundred dollars. Then 
we began to walk. Two years ago we made some 
figures and calculated that, including our living for the 
past twenty years and what we had earned, sold, and 
now hold in this spot of ground we had made it yield 


1 1 2 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


over forty thousand dollars. Well, my story is about 
told. Our new ‘Cabin in the woods ’ cost about four 
thousand dollars. The reception hall is finished in 
mahogany, delivered to us on the beach by vessels from 
South America caught in storms. 

“From where I sit, at my desk, I can reach my tele- 
phone and talk to my friends in Connecticut or Australia, 
so we are not so far away from the North as we were 
twenty years ago. As for society, there is so much 
sham it makes me tired. Nature never lies, you can 
trust it every time. Let us go into the garden.” 

“ Oranges, figs, pineapples, guavas, Kumquats ; 
here they all grow and thrive,” continued the cheer- 
ful voice, “and here are more varieties of trees than 
you will give me time to introduce you to. Must you 
hurry away so? Come again — come again. You will 
always find us ‘ at home.'” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


11 3 


CHAPTER XIV. 

ORMOND BEACH, DAYTONA AND THE MAYOR. 

T With eddy and whirl 
The sea-tides curl, 

* * * * 

Like moths in the distance, 

The sails flit and fade. 

“ Do come out. It’s a perfect day for a bicyle run 
down the beach, and back through Daytona. Tide 
and wind are just right,” begged Ned Blackwood and 
two of his friends, of the girls, as the latter stood on the 
piazza of the Ormond that afternoon, hesitating between 
various agreeable suggestions. 

“What difference does the wind make, on land?" 
asked Christine. 

“A good deal, so far as comfort goes, you’ll find. 
Ormond breezes are soft enough right here, but out on 
the beach they are apt to take matters into their own 
hands, like some people. If you go with them, well and 
good. They help you along wonderfully, and are the 
best of good company. If you defy them and take 
your chances, they push your wheel backward as 
hard as they can, blow your eyes shut and make one 
mile seem three. Now this Daytona ride accommo- 
dates itself to all weather. To day, for instance, we will 
go down the beach, thereby getting the north wind’s 
§ 


1 14 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 

help, cross over the Daytona bridge and return by the 
mainland path, just finished and splendidly sheltered 
by the trees. Isn’t that neat? ” 

“It certainly sounds quite perfect, ” said Eleanor. 



Do come out. It’s a perfect day for a bicycle run down the beach and back 
♦ through Daytona.” 

“Mr. Maxwell cannot be counted on for anything to- 
day, he says, so you may take us wherever you like.” 

“ What time does the train from the North come in ? ” 
a§kqd Christine, quickly adding, “Oh, how stupid! 


AN EAST EL OR ID A ROMANCE. 1 1 5 

Of course at the same time we got in yesterday. I did 
not hear the coach. All right. Lets go.” 

“Do you expect friends, Miss Christine?” asked 
Blackwood, who already showed symptoms of special 
interest and noticed the underlying suggestiveness of 
her question. 

Christine darted off with the others to prepare for the 
run, making no answer, and Ned Blackwood occupied 
himself until their return, in wondering how fancy 
free “those stunning girls,” probably were, coming 
to the conclusion that chances were largely against 
such passing acquaintances as himself. 

Across the peninsula, as they called the land between 
lake and ocean, went the sextette. Cool and pure swept 
the tempered North Wind. Blue as the gleaming arch 
above lay the great ocean with its frill of lacy surf now 
well out on the snow-white sands. 

“ What a superb stretch ! ” cried Elizabeth, “and what 
a fascinating place for a hotel. What’s the name of 
that one, perched up on the sand dune?” 

“ ‘ The Coquina,’ appropriate, more because of that 
local and valuable element in the coast deposits, than 
anything in the building itself; but it’s a jolly place, 
summer and winter, and, we have no end of larks 
there when you Northerners are fancying Florida too 
hot to live in,” answered her escort, a native, whose 
home was in Tallahassee. 

“Wait, good people, and I will take a snap at you. 
Sit on that boat, some of you — and — please, Mr. Black- 
wood, you and Mr. Blake stroll off, to give a natural 
look to the scene.” 

“I like that ! Do you think it’s natural for me to 
leave good company? Perish the thought. ! Allow 


Ii6 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

me ! ” And with some flourishes, protests and repartee 
Ned Blackwood took his position between Eleanor and 
Christine, while the other men endeavored to “ grace- 
fully stroll. ” 

Then they remounted and proceeded on their way 
down the beach. 

“ How far do you suppose it is from the first breaker 



“ Sit on that boat, some of you, please.” 

— I mean edge of the water, you know — to the bank ? ” 
asked Eleanor who doted on statistics. 

Five answers, differing from five hundred to a thou- 
sand feet, left her more than ever in doubt. 

“ No matter. It’s far and away the widest and long- 
est beach I ever was on. Twenty miles, they told me, 
you could ride in a straight line. The commissioner 
talks of a few connecting links that will make a car- 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 




riage and bicycle ride from St. Augustine to Palm Beach. 
Think of that ! It seems to me there never was or can 
be another such combination as this Florida coast, with 
its unequalled water edge, land and forest resources and 
climate, united with the developing and beautifying 
powers that are constantly improving and booming it 
through the Flagler Hotel, railroad and land system. 
Its history for the last ten years reads more like a fairy- 
tale, than anything else. I've seen business men shake 
their heads over it all, and have heard envious croakers 
foretell untimely and unhappy results from what they 
are pleased to consider ‘ ruinous extravagance ' but the 
splendid work seems to go on, all the same." 

“ If any one cares to make a study of business ideas 
that may be called truly Arcadian, this East coast cer- 
tainly seems the place for it," said Christine's knight. 

Elizabeth stopped a moment to pick up a shell she 
fancied. Overtaking the others she added, “And if you 
are interested in philanthropy under the name of busi- 
ness, watch the man who is at the back of it all. I have 
made up my mind that he comes the nearest to my 
ideal hero of any one I know about. Hear the men 
associated with him speak of him ! Watch the dignity 
and honesty of their methods. From the smallest de- 
tail in the workshops to the most conspicuous ornament 
in their palaces there is but one rule followed, and that 
is ‘get the best.' It is a practical application of the old 
adage ‘ Honesty is the best policy.' " 

“Why, Miss Hunter!" cried Ned Blackwood, “if 
you were only a man I should suspect you of having 
an interest in railroad stock or land or something." 

“Perhaps I shall have, some time," answered Eliza- 
beth. “ I confess I am rapidly developing a large 



Isn’t it a gay turn-out? 





AN- EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


119 

desire to see some of my New York ‘poor but proud' 
friends settled down here. What a happy self-respect- 
ing, healthful, independent life it might be ! " 

“What is that, coming across the peninsula towards 
us ? " cried Christine, who had taken the lead. 

“The tally-ho — that’s the way we do it, at the 
Ormond, ladies and gentlemen ! Isn’t it a gay turn- 
out ? And just wait until they go by ! How are you ? 
hurrah for the Ormond ! — Now, look at the beach, 
twenty-two people on that coach and six horses 
pulling. Can you see a hoof-print ? No, not one. 
What do you think of that for packed sand ? " said 
young Blake, who was enthusiastic, if not an Adonis. 

Over the bridge into Daytona they flew, making 
people stare, as they sprinted along. If Florida has 
an enervating effect upon mental or physical energies, 
no one would have suspected it while watching those 
six bicyclists. 

“ Here is another surprise,” said Eleanor. 7 “A fine 
sea-wall, splendid road. What delightful homes — 
and how wide the avenues are ! ” 

“I never saw such trees in my life,” exclaimed 
Christine. 

“This is the town that everybody says is the 
prettiest in the State, isn’t it ? ” asked Elizabeth. 

“ I am not sure ‘ everybody ’ would agree to that,” 
answered the Tallahassee man ; “but it is one of our 
show places. See how fine the grass-growth is, and 
you can drive out of town for miles under the shadow 
of just such trees. 

“ Now, you see here the wind is hardly felt at all, we 
are so protected. In the hottest noon it is comfortable 
and shady all along this path.” 


120 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


“ There is the Ormond. What is this street called? 
Are we out of Daytona?” inquired Elizabeth, as they 
came in sight of their starting-point, and passed some 
pleasant homes along the west bank of the river. 

“ This is the town of Ormond,” answered Blackwood. 
“Right there lives the owner of the great Cincinnatus 
Farms. That is, his wife lives there. He is hard at 
work, most of the time, down at Sebastian, building a 
ten-mile railroad and draining and improving one 
hundred and fifteen thousand acres of land that he ex- 
pects to cultivate sugar, rice, and tobacco on. He is 
going to put in about sixty-eight miles of canals and 
dykes before he gets through. Isn’t that enterprise ? ” 

Elizabeth smiled. “Splendid, and as energetic as 
though this country were Maine. I see no proofs of 
climatic indolence anywhere about here, at any rate.” 

“If you are, not tired, why not run down the other 
side a few rods and see some of the fruits indigenous 
to this region,” suggested Blake. “The Mayor of 
Ormond lives over there and raises almost everything 
anybody does.” 

Over the Ormond Bridge they rode. Turning to the 
right, down the east bank of the river they soon stopped 
at a typical Southern homestead, and were welcomed 
cordially by the genial Mayor and his wife. The 
former loading them with specimens of his fruit and the 
latter with flowers from her own gardens. 

“This is my time to perpetuate some of these South- 
ern fruits,” said Elizabeth. “That is a lovely cluster 
of baby oranges. What do they call them ? Kumquats? 
They are just about the size of strawberry tomatoes, 
and delicious. Now, grape fruit : I had no idea it grew 
on that kind of tree. My ! how good ! If I settle 





Kumquats. 


% 


•I 









Grape Fruit. 

They ask tremendous prices for them in New York, and 
twenty-five cents apiece even in St. Augustine.” 

Everybody laughed when their host asked Elizabeth 
if she expected to ‘ ‘ settle ” soon. 


122 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


down here I am going to raise grape fruit. I should 
think it would pay better even than raising oranges. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE, 123 

She did not seem to mind their joking, and answered 
gayly, “ Nobody can tell what may happen if you all 



continue to tempt me so. What are those? ” pointing 
s to a small fruit hanging low by her side. 

“Persimmons — did you never eat any? Try this 



“ Worth going many miles to see.” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE, 


I2 5 

ripe one. This is the small variety, and some like it 
much better than the larger ones. If it’s ripe it’s mighty 
good, but if it isn’t, you wouldn’t be ‘ able to’ unscrew 
your mouth again to-day,” said Blackwood. 

Elizabeth experimented daintily, pronounced her ver- 
dict — “Awfully good” — and made a snap shot that in 
no way satisfies lovers of the fruit. Later, when it was 
developed she remarked — “You never would mistrust 
either its beauty or its taste from this thing. ” 

“ And there are oranges, lemons, limes, citrons, 
shaddocks, custard apples, grapes, guavas, peaches, 
strawberries, bananas, loquats, paw-paws, mangos — 
pineapples over there, and vegetables farther back,” 
pointed out the Mayor. 

“Such a country! Such a country!” exclaimed 
Eleanor. “ I shall be as crazy about it as Beth, pretty 
soon.” 

“ This is only one of many bicycle rides that Ormond 
tempts us with,” said Blackwood, as they finally bade 
farewell to their hospitable entertainers and rode back 
to the hotel. “Wheeling has assumed the first place 
in our list of amusements. I counted fifty-four bicycles, 
in the storeroom this morning, and next month will 
probably bring many more. Miss Christine, what do 
you say to a stroll on the beach by moonlight to-night. 
It is something worth going many miles to see — that 
shore, in the silvery light and the ocean, like burnished 
plate.” 

Christine always preferred moonlight walks to hotel- 
parlor entertainments, even though no one in particular 
was in attendance, and Ned Blackwood was agreeable 
enough ; so she said yes, and contentedly walked a 
good five miles — Elizabeth and Mr. Blake following, 


126 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


in earnest conversation upon Florida crops — and found 
herself, on the home stretch, wondering- if every place 
they visited would continue to increase their pleasant 
impressions. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


127 


CHAPTER XV. 

A BIRTHDAY PARTY — A TELEGRAM AND ARRIVALS. 

Pleasure swiftly as we may, 

New delights greet each new day. 

“ Eleanor’s birthday ! Tiny, I’m glad we remem- 
bered, and got those things at the Alcazar. Where did 
you put them ? ” asked Elizabeth, the next morning, as 
she shook out her bonnie hair and piled it about her 
head. 

“ Right in the top of my jewel-case. Be careful, 
Beth ! you’ll spoil those feathers ! There is the package. 
My box is all ready to send in when you have marked 
yours. Ring for a bell-boy and wake her up with a 
surprise. She never remembers her birthdays, dear 
thing.” 

Elizabeth opened two jewel-boxes and took out the 
contents leisurely. “Here is father’s present. I think 
he would like our selection. It would ‘ mean some- 
thing ’ and that alone appeals to him, in a gift.” 

Christine laughed. “Handsome things always 
mean something, I think.” That belt-buckle is the 
Ponce de Leon Arms. It is a beauty, and your spoon is 
a souvenir of St. Augustine history. What does my 
dear little picture mean but beauty and fragrance 
incarnate 1 It is one of Head’s inspirations. You can 


128 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


almost smell the roses and feel the plush. Eleanor loves 
little pictures that she can carry about with her. 

The messenger that carried the love-token returned 
with a hastily scrawled note accompanied by an opened 
telegram. The note read — 

“ You darlings ! how sweet of you ! I’m delighted, 
and will kiss you twenty-six times (how frightfully old 
I am getting) in as many more minutes. Isn’t Philip 
a love ? 

“Nell.” 

The telegram was addressed to “ Mrs. Philip Maxwell 
— Ormond-on-Halifax — and read : ” 

‘ ‘ Many happy returns. Will celebrate the day as Mr, 
Maxwell suggests. Expect us on the morning train. 

“ Avery Arnold.” 

“ How perfectly splendid ! ” cried Christine on general 
principles. 

“ ‘Us’ means Mr. Arnold and Mr. Frisby, I suppose, 
and Philip has planned something jolly,” said Elizabeth, 
hurrying her dressing, to be ready for the promised 
greeting and all the rest. 

“It is an ideal day. Now, how do you suppose 
Philip is going to celebrate ? Well, Eleanor dear ; 
what are we to do ? ” asked Christine, as that youthful 
matron came into the room and fell upon Elizabeth as 
the nearest. 

“ A delightful birthday breakfast at ten o’clock — six- 
teen covers ; all our particular friends invited. Then 
everybody is going to see a tournament on the beach, 
gotten up for our special benefit. After that, the tally- 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


129 

ho takes us to the station to meet the St. Augustine 
party. Philip won’t tell me how many are coming. 
He says he expects Arnold and a chum or too. After 
luncheon we are going to drive through the hammock. 
Dinner at seven, and a dance this evening. There is 
Philip calling. Come on, dears. " 

When the train rolled up to the Ormond station that 
noon it would be hard to say which contingent was 
most surprised. The Maxwell party, or the four people 
that they greeted with music, flags and general intro- 
ductions. 

“ And there is Mrs. Bartlett” cried Eleanor, as that 
sweet-faced woman appeared upon the platform. 

John Bartlett loomed behind her and waved his hat, 
while Arnold and Frisby vied with each other in help- 
ing her off the car steps. 

“ How did you manage it, Mr. Bartlett ? ” asked Eliza- 
beth, her blue eyes looking the pleasure she did not 
put in words. 

“ Maxwell did it all," he answered as he clasped 
her extended hand and gave it a curiously intense grip 
that nearly paralyzed her ringed fingers. “He wrote 
mother from St. Augustine and told her about Mrs. 
Maxwell’s birthday and the surprise he was anxious to 
arrange for her. Mother delights in surprises ! pleas- 
ant ones — and it only meant starting a few days sooner, 
for we had made up our minds to go to Miami this 
month. " 

Christine was radiant. She was also impartially 
charming, bestowing her smiles upon all, while permit- 
ting Frisby a seat at her right hand. 

Arnold seemed particularly jolly and the ride to the 

9 



;o AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

hotel as well as the following hour at luncheon served 
to put every one at their ease, so that by the time 
carriages were ordered for the drive through the ham- 
mock there remained no trace of ceremony. 

Mrs. Bartlett declined accompanying them. “ I will 
rest, my dears. One journey a day is quite enough for 
me ; especially as we take another to-morrow.” 


Through the hammock. 

“To-morrow?” said Eleanor. “Where are you 
going to-morrow ? ” 

“We all are going together, Nell, to Lake Worth,” 
said Philip. “That is apart of the plot. Mrs. Bartlett, 
John, Arnold, and Frisbyhave promised to spend a day 
or two there with you and the girls, while I run up 
into the country for some hunting. Is it not good of 
me to provide you with escorts ? ” 


Atf EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 13 1 

“And what are we to do without you ? ” sighed Ned 
Blackwood in Christine’s ear, while Mrs. Dean nodded 
at him vigorously and told him it was great luck that 
they had asked Mr. Maxwell before they fixed upon 
that night for the dance. 

It was twelve o’clock before that happy day ended. 

“ I really believe I am sorry to leave Ormond,” said 
Christine. “ It is such a jolly place.” 


132 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

THE ROYAL POINCIANA. 

Like some fair dream 
Of Nature’s rarest charms 
Set in the sheen of sister waves 
Like pure encircling arms 
Girdling it round. 

It was hard to leave the Ormond friends and the 
sweet, wholesome life. 

Christine declared she never again would undertake 
a trip that included so many pleasant places. ‘ * Every 
one makes you wish there were no other to tear you 
away. It really wears me out, this saying good-bye 
to people I am awfully sorry to leave/' 

“You don’t look a bit miserable," retorted Ned 
Blackwood, looking into the bright face reproachfully. 

Frisby secretly pronounced Blackwood an upstart, but 
forgot his existence the moment the train left the Or- 
mond station. Elizabeth and Avery Arnold devoted 
themselves entirely to inspecting the country, while 
Mrs. Bartlett, John and the Maxwells entertained each 
other by such stories and topics of conversation as 
were suggested by their surroundings. 

The railroad ran through alternate stretches of low, 
wet ground, densely covered with palmettoes, oaks, 
maples and other large trees, all interlaced with luxu- 


AM EAST FLORIDA ROMA MCE. 133 

riant vines, and slightly higher plains of pine trees. 
Among the former, hundreds of tropical shrubs, ferns, 
and plants grew in masses, thriving in the dense 



Scrub Palmetto blossoms. 


shadow. Under the pines great patches of baptista 
carpeted the earth in yellow, and scrub palmetto blos- 
soms softened the otherwise stiff outlines of that ever- 
present growth. The golden butterworth brightened 



134 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


the thickets, and clouds of white viburnum drifted by 
on both sides. 

Orange groves increased in number, and thrifty vega- 
table and fruit fields spread far to east and west, 
where the woodlands had been cleared and cultivated. 

“What good are those wooden lattices over the pine- 



Pineapple field. 

apple fields ? ” asked Elizabeth. ‘ ‘ Do they spread any- 
thing over them for shade or to save the plants from 
frost ? ” 

“No, I think not/’ said Arnold. “ The slight wooden 
strips afford just enough protection from both sun 
and chill. We are getting well down into the citrus- 
growing region now. Do you not see a decided 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 13 $ 

change in the vegetation ? Everything seems more 
and more tropical.” 

“Yes, indeed; more and fascinating. ‘New Smyrna.’ 
Isn’t there a ruin here ? Columbus’ Chapel I think it 
is called.” 

By three o’clock they were at Titusville. 

“ This looks like an enterprising place, I’m sure,” said 
Philip, sauntering to the platform. 

He soon returned with an eight-page local news- 
paper — “ Indian River Advocate.” 

“ How is that for East Coast Journalism ? ” he asked, 
holding up the pink sheet. 

As he did not speak again for half an hour Eleanor 
declared the paper must be worth reading. 

“And Titusville worth visiting, I imagine ; an opera 
house, hotels, lawyers, lots of stores. Oh, Titus- 
ville is all right. What ! this place ? Cocoa ? Named 
for Cocoanut trees, I suppose, though there are none in 
sight. ” 

By the time they reached St. Lucie, however, the 
graceful cocoa palms began to make an important 
feature in the landscape, and the pineapples seemed 
to grow more and more scarce, in the same propor- 
tion. 

It was eight o’clock when West Palm Beach was 
reached and some minutes later when, as Christine 
said, “ they surely had entered fairyland.” 

The moon was high in the heavens, and the air was 
as soft as a New England June night. They could see 
everything as clearly as though the sun shone, with the 
additional glamour of bewitching softness that only- 
moonlight bestows. Vistas of stately palm trees 
stretched away from east to west, from north to south. 


mam ns 



#■ 


Rightly named the Royal Poinciana 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


137 


The Yacht Club House glowed with hospitable illumi- 
nations. The magnificent hotel, rightly named Royal 
Poinciana, from the splendid crimson-flowered trees 
about it, was alight from ground to tower-tip. Orches- 
tral music floated on the rose-scented air, and the 
rustle of many women’s undulating garments, and 
many promenaders’ leisurely steps up and down the 
broad piazzas lent a human and social element to the 
scene that perfected it — at least for the Hunters. 

They alt felt two much infatuated with the external 
loveliness to willingly stay indoors any longer than 
was necessary for dinner, and as “ arrivals ” they ate, 
looked, commented and passed out onto the balcony 
upon which the grand entrance opened. “Let us sit 
here in the shadow and just drink it all in,” said 
Eleanor as she helped Mrs. Bartlett into an easy-chair. 
“I feel as though we had opened a second chapter of 
the ‘Arabian Nights.’ St. Augustine was the first — 
Ormond belongs to quite another order of delights ; 
but this, though not a bit like the Spanish City, is 
magnificent, enchanting, and even more tropical.” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


* 3 * 


CHAPTER XVII. 

RIVALS. 

“ While the whole fabric is ablaze 
With varied tints, all fused in one 
Great mass of color, like a maze 
Of flowers illumined by the sun.” 

The next morning Elizabeth threw off the spell of 
drowsiness natural to youth and to health, and arising 
noiselessly that she might not awaken Christine, 
dressed, donned a shade-hat and slipped out of the 
room, bent upon an hour’s walk with no one by to 
interrupt the sweetness of the dawn. 

It was too early to fear meeting or being missed by 
any of her own party. They were fond of late break- 
fasts. At least Eleanor, Philip, and Christine were. 
Of course Mrs. Bartlett would not be be visible for 
hours and as for the men — she had no consideration 
for them when such a heavenly flush tempted abroad. 

Down the long silent corridor she sped, pausing a 
moment to compare the simple but lofty rotunda with 
the Ponce de Leon dome. 

“Comparison is stupid. This hotel is like a Patrician 
grand dame of the Colonial days : proud, erect, clad 
in purple and fine linen ; rare lace at her slender 
wrists, but no unnecessary furbelows.” She smiled 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


139 


to herself at the conceit, and passing down the great 
steps to the avenue between the bridge and the hotel, 
turned again. 

“Yes, the coquettish balconies and turrets, the 
mosaics and coats-of-arms, the loggias and towers of 
your Spanish rival are carefully omitted ! You are 
a chaste Lady Washington ; blonde, ample, courtly. 
She is an intoxicating signora with jewels flashing in 
her black hair, covering her creamy neck and arms 
and woven all over her sweeping robes of state. The 
whole world worships you both — ” and, here, the fra- 
grance of roses interrupted Elizabeth’s mental oratory, 
and looking for its source she was soon absorbed in 
the floral wreath spread on every side. Following a 
path that led across the grounds toward the south, she 
found one of the gardeners at work near a bed of 
brilliant hybiscus plants. Their blossoms flamed red, 
yellow, and purple, ten feet high, like materialized 
reflections of the sunrise now bathing them in its 
slanting beams. White and red oleanders, gorgeous 
flowering poincianas, climbing, trailing morning- 
glories, stately lilies, heliotrope, verbenas, magnolias, 
greeted her ravished senses at every turn. 

“I smell roses,” she said, “ where are they ? ” 

“Just around there, miss,” answered the man, as he 
got up and led the way to a veritable tangle of the 
“loveliest flowers ever grown.” He picked half a 
dozen stems, each with many dewy blossoms on it, 
and handed them to her, pulling off his hat with in- 
tuitive chivalry, but speechless from unconcealed ad- 
miration of the bewitching picture she made as she 
leaned against the spreading cocoanut tree, her happy, 
qalm fage framed in the Gainsborough hat ; her pliant 


140 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


young figure exquisitely outlined by the clinging white 
gown against which the roses were pressed, their 
bloom reflecting the carmine of her beguiling lips and 
the soft pink of her changeful coloring. 

Someone else enjoyed the same picture while she 
unconsciously protracted its effectiveness by turning 
slightly toward the east, attracted by a low even boom- 
ing, that until then she had not noticed. 

‘‘What is that sound?” she asked her newest ac- 
quaintance — the gardener. 

“Wind has turned. It’s the sea on the beach,” he 
answered, as he resumed his labors. 

“ Good-morning, Miss Maxwell. You are up early ! 
Did the night refuse you, also, any temptation to pro- 
long it ? ” 

Turning quickly she found herself face to face with 
John Bartlett, and, self-forgetful, her first thought was 
that he looked weary and troubled. 

Her face and voice expressed strong sympathy. 
“Oh, dear! what a pity you have not enjoyed sleep 
as I did ! but I was eager to see these new surround- 
ings and felt sure I should be repaid after the first 
effort was made. Isn’t it perfect ? ” 

Bartlett did not remove his eyes from her, but he 
assented, with unmistakable warmth. 

“ Have you seen the Cocoanut Walk ? Let us go 
back that way, if you will permit me to join you.” 

Elizabeth did not mind in the least John Bartlett’s 
being a sharer in her pleasure. She felt sure he would 
not talk unless he had something to say worth listen- 
ing to — and then — he never seemed quite like other 
men. 

§o they sauntered on together 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


141 

“ I have been expecting some sort of disappoint- 
ment in every next place,” she said, her eyes wander- 
ing over the great hotel, set in its tropical shrubbery 

like a ” She still clung to her first impression and 

broke off her sentence abruptly to ask Bartlett what his 
was. 

“What does the hotel remind me of?” he queried, 
looking away from her at last, as though his eyes had 
realized nothing else in the landscape. “Why! it’s 
strictly Colonial, of course. I should say it was a 
composite of Puritan simplicity, English solidity and 
advanced American luxury. The climate, vegetation, 
and geographical position naturally softens and at the 
same time enhances its primary characteristics. Are 
you disappointed, did you say?” 

“No, indeed ! A thousand times no ! Is it not de- 
lightful to be so entirely surprised and at the same 
time so satisfied? Yes, that is just what I feel, satis- 
fied. Is it the dreamy air, or just everything? The 
place is as cultivated as oid England. And how many 
palms everywhere ! They grow as luxuriantly as our 
elms do in the North.” 

She chatted on inconsequently, until suddenly realiz- 
ing that Bartlett was making no answer. Looking into 
his face, questioningly, she was surprised to see its 
expression. 

“Are you ill, Mr. Bartlett? ” 

He smiled, hesitated, like one undecided whether to 
answer at all, or not, and then said, “I’m very tired 
of myself, Miss Maxwell, and wish you would teach 
me to forget that particularly uninteresting person.” 

Elizabeth glanced at him keenly and then bent her 
fece over her roses a trifle as she said lightly. 



142 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

“ You need a better teacher than I, I fancy. ” Then 
looking- up, she cried, “ Will you see those girls ! I 
thought they would sleep another hour. Don't they 


“ You need a better teacher than I.” 


look like tourists! brown as berries, ruddy as cherries ! 
Where is Philip ? ” 

“Don’t ask me!" answered Eleanor. “When I 
woke up, the first thing I saw was a note pinned on 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


143 

my candle-stand. I’m used to that sort of thing. Truth 
compels me to say that Philip Maxwell is the most 
graceful of sneaks. Look at these flowers he left with 
the note ! But sneak he certainly is, for he knew just 
as well last night that he was going to desert us, as he 
did at four o’clock this morning, and nobody can tell 
when he will ever get back. He says, ‘at Miami in 
three or four days.’ Well. It s no sort of use wasting 
time in worrying over his absence. Mr. Bartlett, you 
will have to be escort in general. What shall we do 
after breakfast ? ” 

“ First, a walk down the famous Palm Avenue, 
good people,” said Bartlett, an hour later, “and a surf 
bath at eleven ; or if you ladies prefer, a swim in the 
pool. I' believe the one and only Earnest Allen is 
here, with his clever wife. You know they can per- 
form equally well on the dramatic stage or under 
water. They really do wonderful things as swimming 
experts.” 

“Let’s start, and do what ever happens,” said Chris- 
tine, who loathed rules and regulations. “The ‘East 
Coast System’ is the only pleasant one I ever heard 
of,” shendded. “ Don’t spoil a good time by deciding 
beforehand just what must be done.” 

It was Bartlett’s day with Christine, and Frisby de- 
voted himself -with pronounced fervor to her sisters, as 
it happened to be convenient. 

Arnold seemed quietly content, however fate placed 
him, and was invaluable as a guide, having been at 
the Royal Poinciana several times before. Indeed he 
had gone over the length and breadth of Florida many 
times, as far as that point, and had a happy faculty of 
retaining historical facts and data, Elizabeth found 









> <s 


From Fake Worth to the Sea, 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


r 45 


him most interesting and instructive in her abnormal 
appetite for local information, and they were fast grow- 
ing to be what Philip called “great pals.” 

“How high do you suppose these palms are?” 
asked Eleanor, as they walked across the grounds to 
the beach. 

“Thirty feet, about,” said Bartlett. 

“Don’t speak to Miss Hunter: she is counting 
them,” said Frisby. 

They all laughed at her and teased her, but Elizabeth 
stuck bravely to her counting, even after they came to 
the Inn, not paying any attention to other objects of 
interest until the last green column was reached. 

“Three hundred and thirty ! ” she declared, triumph- 
antly. “My ! it was mean of you all to interrupt me 
so. Do you call this, fine great place an Inn ? It’s as 
large as the Ormond, isn’t it? and how different from 
all the rest except in color ! I wonder there is any yel- 
low paint left in the market. Almost everything you 
see in Florida is yellow.” 

“It is a very durable color and selected on that ac- 
count, I believe,” said Arnold. “ Someone told me that 
the Flagler System set the fashion and the rest of the 
East Coast population tried to follow it, with greater 
or less success. This Flagler shade is delicate and 
rather refreshing to the eye, but there are some yellows 
that are terrible.” 

“What an effective border the Spanish Bayonet 
makes,” said Eleanor. “There must be thousands and 
thousands of them around the Inn. I pity the gar- 
deners. It looks like a cruel plant to train, and every 
one is as polished as though wiped with a damp 
cloth. Girls, it must take an army of mep to keep 
*9 





A goodly Inn — for comfort largely planned. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


147 

things so trim. Just see what immense lawns, and 
miles of walks and driveways ! but isn’t it as beautiful 
as a dream ? That pretty church belongs to the Poin- 
ciana, I suppose.” 

“Yes. If we were going to stay over Sunday, I 
should suggest Miss Elizabeth’s singing,” said Arnold, 
“but I suppose we shall be at Miami before Saturday.” 
They sat on the Inn porch for a while and looked at 



A morning swim. 

the ocean, the people strolling about, and the boats at 
the long pier, waiting for deep-sea fishing parties. 

The time passed quickly. 

“Who is going to have a bath ? ” asked Bartlett at 
length, pulling out his watch ! “It’s after eleven and 
the tide looks about right.” 

The sisters decided to go over and sit on the sand 
bank while the men took a plunge. “And then per- 
haps we will try the pool,” added Elizabeth. 

“Is the water cold?” asked Eleanor, as the bathers 


148 


AN BAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


passed them, after a prolonged and apparently most 
enjoyable swim. 

“Not in the least; just like Cape May in August,” 
shouted Frisby. 

They looked in at the pool, and had great fun watch- 
ing the beginners as well as the experts, but were too 
indolent to participate. 

“I am going over to the studio to see Miss Wood- 
ward’s pictures,” said Elizabeth, when they reached 
the Royal Poinciana, about one o’clock. 

Everybody followed, and Bartlett said they looked 
like “agents” when they came back, for the girls were 
enthusiastic over the artist’s Florida views and bought 
them by the wholesale. 

“I think we have read up on almost every Florida 
subject but the Seminoles,” said Eleanor, as they gath- 
ered in the rotunda, after luncheon. “I’m very hazy 
about their past and present. We have not been quiet 
an hour since we left St. Augustine, and I must say I 
should enjoy just sitting still and hearing somebody 
read this article that I have carried about for a week in 
my bag, thinking we should find a time and place for 
it, before now. It is another paper by the same club- 
woman who wrote about Biscayne Bay. Philip liked 
it. Who’ll offer to read ? ” 

“ Let’s take a sail-boat and go out on Lake Worth. 
There is just enough breeze to make it pleasant, and we 
can watch the shore and see the sights, w T hile Arnold 
takes the chair. He is a prime reader,” said Frisby. 

“That will be delightful,” said Eleanor, and as every- 
body else was equally agreeable to the proposition, no 
time was lost in carrying it out. 

It proved a divided pleasure, for the shores of the 


AM EAST FLORIDA ROMA MCE. 149 

lake were a prolific source of exclamation, question 
and conflicting interest and it was not until one tour 
was finished that Arnold succeeded in concentrating 
general attention upon his reading. 

“Whatever you do, don’t interrupt Mr. Arnold,” at 
last cried Eleanor, “ for we must know about the Semi- 
noles. Please begin once more, Mr. Arnold. We will 
keep as quiet as mice.” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


150 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

SEMINOLES AT HOME. 

“ Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple, 

Who have faith in God and nature — ” 

Canopied by a Southern sky, from whose edges were 
shooting the fast-fading glories of a superb tropical sun- 
set, lay a snow-white yacht on the bosom of Biscayne 
Bay, under the lee of the lower bank of the Miami. 
The steward had just announced dinner to a group of 
ravenous voyagers, when one of the crew broke the 
echoes with two beguiling words, “ An Indian !” 

Curiosity, or, kindlier word, philanthropy, triumphed 
over appetite. 

Everybody rushed up the companionway, and darted 
eager glances around the golden horizon, until all eyes 
became fixed upon one living picture. 

Standing straight and tall in his canoe, a young Semi- 
nole “ buck” was poling along the upper bank of the 
Miami, with no more apparent effort or noise than a 
spirit Hiawatha, speeding to his beloved Minnehaha. 

Most unghostlike, however, was his supple figure, and 
most picturesque his Venetian-blue shirt, his gayly col- 
ored turban and his deerskin leggins,in the golden gleam 
of the aftermath, while his pole seemed tipped with mol- 
ten fire as he gracefully dipped and redipped it in the 
liquid radiance. 

He gave no sign of noticing the yacht or herpassen- 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


151 

gers, but followed the curve of the shore, disappearing 
as quietly as he came, and the warmth and coloring of 
day seemed to go with him, the stars following with 
tropical rapidity upon the wake of the sunlight. 

“ Oh, I do wish I could go ashore and talk to him ! ” 
cried one with an utter disregard for dinner, disapproved 
of by mine host. 

“ Take my advice and attend to one thing at a time/' 
he said. “Indians can wait. Indeed, they never were 
known to hurry, unless on the hunt. You are sure to 
have ample opportunities for interviewing them, even 
if this particular one should escape you ; but you prob- 
ably never will have any better chance to investigate 
turtle-steak than at the present moment.” And, re- 
gathering his family around his hospitable centreboard, 
the commodore lost no time in proving the wisdom of 
his advice. 

Later in the evening, as we sat on deck enjoying the 
soft, fragrant freshness of the starlit night, our conver- 
sation turned upon the Seminoles, the only people with- 
out a country known to exist in the English-speaking 
world, and a great interest in them took such posses- 
sion of me that the commodore could not refrain from 
indulging in much pleasant banter, and I received the 
pseudonym of “ Indian Crank”; but, not in the least 
resenting this, I proceeded to utilize my new title as a 
sort of platform for future operations, and then and 
there extracted from my would-be tormentor promises 
that afterward enabled me to invade the camps of the 
Seminoles, in the fastnesses of the great Everglades, 
and to gain the glimpses of their habits, characteristics 
and peculiarities that constitute the raison (Litre of this 
article. 


152 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

Concerning the significance of the word Seminole, 
there are various opinions. One authority states the 
origin to be from the Creeks, and the meaning to be 
“ runaways.” Its application was to those Indians of 
the Creek Nation who emigrated in a body to a country 
farther south, where they extended their dominion by 
overrunning the once numerous tribe that occupied the 
southern extremity of Florida— the Euchees— whom 
they finally annihilated, taking in the remnant of the 
tribe as their own. The Creeks have long since re- 
moved to the southern part of Arkansas, where they are 
considered the most advanced of Indian tribes. - Those 
remaining in Florida were called Iste-semole (wild men) 
or Seminoles. 

Another authority declares the name to signify devo- 
tion to hunting rather than fishing, and still another 
deducts from the word a most unsavory reputation 
for general and particular dare-deviltry on the part of 
the tribe bearing it. History, however, does not veri- 
fy such an impression. The Seminoles have simply 
resisted the government in all efforts to force them from 
their chosen homes. The original tribe was made up of 
the disaffected and rebellious, but not at all necessarily 
criminal, members of other tribes. It has no pedigree, 
no antiquity; neither written language nor laws. When 
the Spaniards came over to Florida, they took great 
pains to win this tribe to ways of thrift and civili- 
zation, and found among them much intelligence and 
force. Perhaps from the very progressiveness which 
started their existence as a distinctive tribe and made 
them easy to win from savagery sprang their fierce 
resentment of injustice and invasion, and the success- 
ful cunning that enabled the fathers of the present 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


J 5 3 

Seminoles to escape all efforts to capture or coerce 
them. 

In any case, when their leading brave, Osceola, was 
tricked into captivity these “ twice proved renegades” 
spent little time in words, but silently, under cover of 
night, in the shadows of winding creeks, slipped away 
among the mazes of hammock, island and grassy, 
watery wilderness, to nooks where nature had provided 
amply for their needs; where ground and vine and tree 
gave ample harvests of luscious fruits, and nograsping 
greed of government or individual could ever look upon 
their peaceful homes. There, without legal status, 
they still live, practically outside the pale of civilization, 

Small wonder is it that they learned to look with 
quick suspicion upon all and any representatives and 
representations of “ white men, ” and spared no pains 
to instill into the minds o ; f their women and youth the 
self-protective law of silence and non-intercourse when 
chance threw them in the way of outsiders. 

Small wonder if the warriors failed not to point their 
advice with the sad story of “ Billy Bowlegs,” the 
clever and favorite chief who led them through the 
perils of their flight from the oppressing powers, only to 
fall a victim to the Indian Judas, “Jumper.” The latter, 
it is said, having accepted defeat and expatriation, was 
made chieftain of the Arkansas Seminole contingent, 
and did not hesitate to play traitor to his old friends, 
lending himself and his knowledge of the Everglades to 
the government, for the purpose of hunting- down “Billy 
Bowlegs. ” 

Then he tempted him with offers of rich rewards to 
give up his ninety slaves and his home, and go with 
him, first, to the great city of the“ White Father,” and 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


154 

then to the waiting red brothers in the Arkansas reser- 
vation. “Billy Bowlegs” was human. He loved 
power and he loved wealth. 

The overtures held out to him promised a degree of 
both. Perhaps, too, he saw new possibilities for the 
people of his race, through his own leadership in a new 
land. At all events, he permitted himself, arrayed in 
kingly garb of finest skins, beaded decorations and 
waving plumes to be received in Washington and shown 
the glories of our nation’s capital. 

Stern, haughty, majestic, he gazed upon the throngs 
in legislative halls and governmental buildings ; upon 
the galleries of art, the rows of human habitations, and 
all the outcomes of American growth, without one sign 
of admiration or surprise. He gave no credence to 
‘‘Jumper’s ” assurances that Washington was but one 
of many great cities, and that the throng of people there 
was but a handful to the nation. 

With savage mightiness of conceit he fancied the 
whole country gathered for his own inspection, and 
accepted all as his right. “ H’m ! Big chief here. 
White man all come, too ! ” But “Jumper” knew 
his man and bided his time, and finally yielding to an 
un-Indian ambition and a curiosity as unracelike, “ Billy 
Bowlegs ” listened to the tempter, but insisted upon his 
own terms. Not one step would he go until he held in 
his hands the $90,000 purchase money for his slaves, 
and was promised the chief place among his brethren 
in the Arkansas reservation. Then he stalked away 
to his death, which came to him a few moons later, at 
the hands of his rival, “Jumper,” who mocked him 
with a poisoned cup, and lived to take his place. Of 
his kindred who were left in sunny Florida, about one 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 155 

hundred and sixty are scattered through the Miami 
region, and the remainder along the west coast and 
through the Big Cypress Swamp. 

It was about two weeks after our first Indian glimpse, 
that the same faithful watch again called us to interview 
“ Tommie Charlie ” and “ Jack Charlie,” two Indian 
lads who were standing in their canoe at the Nelhlas 
stern, awaiting an inspection of the results of their 
three days’ hunt in the hunting grounds, about seven 
miles below Cocoanut Grove. 

They were about fourteen and eighteen years old, 
and the marked difference always made by the tribe 
between a “ pickaninny” and a “ buck” was conspicu- 
ous in their appearance. The elder, “Jack Charlie,” 
was brave in leggins, belted shirt of white and red 
calico, and the blanket turban which is the distinctive 
head-dress of the Seminoles, and gives them a queer, 
top-heavy look. “ Tommie Charlie’s” toilet was as 
limited in quantity and quality as it well could be, unless 
indeed the colored handkerchief around his neck could 
be considered a luxury. Otherwise, his one garment 
hung in severe simplicity about his lithe young figure, 
and his long black bang nearly eclipsed the furtive 
glances which were the only recognition he gave of 
our presence. 

Handkerchiefs about the neck are to a Seminole boy, 
buck or brave what a cigar is to an inveterate smoker, 
only the handkerchief can be applied in layers, and one 
often sees four and five bright-colored edges and ends 
of these favorite ornaments adorning the same Indian at 
the same time. 

Of course the desire to obtain photographs of these 
and all the Seminoles that we saw was intense, and in 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


j 56 

some cases was easily gratified, for the commodore was 
both ready and equal to the occasion, if the subject could 
be caught. In the case of f ‘Jack” and “ Tommie Charlie, 
the photographic snap-shot involved only an instant’s 
use of the camera ; but most of the portraits and views of 
Indian life that are presented here were the result of 
untiring effort, and in some cases — truth compels us to 
confess — of a duplicity and effrontery possible only 
under just such circumstances. 

Mr. F. V. Hayden, the United States Geologist, says, 
in an interesting article relative to a collection of Indian 
photographs taken by the eminent photographer Will- 
iam Jackson, of Denver, Col. : “ Those who have never 
attempted to secure photographs and measurements, or 
other details of the physique of Indians, can hardly 
realize the obstacles to be overcome. The American 
Indian is extremely superstitious, and every attempt 
to take his picture is rendered difficult, if not entirely 
frustrated, by his deeply-rooted belief that the process 
places some portion of himself in the power of the white 
man, and his suspicions that such control may be used 
to his injury.” 

Mr. George Catlin, the great American traveler, author 
and artist, who was known among all the Indian tribes 
with whom he sojourned as the “great white medicine 
man,” because he could create “ alive ” faces and beings 
upon his canvas — faces which followed them with their 
looks as they moved from place to place — devoted forty- 
two years of his talented life to perpetuating the vanish- 
ing races of the red man by his careful work of pen and 
brush, as the extensive “ George Catlin Indian Gallery” 
in the Smithsonian Institute, in Washington, amply 
proves. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


I 57 


In his history or reminiscences of his journeyings and 
happenings, Mr. Catlin illustrates the Indian prejudice 
against photography, or, rather, portraiture, in a graphic 
sketch of his experiences in the Cornibas tribe. He 
arrived among them during the absence of the leading 
spirit, an old medicineman, for whom the tribe eviden- 
ced extreme regard and respect. As no objections were 
raised, he at once began his work, accepting subjects 
as fast as they applied, and working upon their vanity 
and curiosity as he rapidly portrayed each brave in his 
finest apparel. 

But suddenly the favorite medicine man appeared, 
and, after due and solemn inspection and deliberation, 
thus addressed his people : “ These things” — pointing 
to the portraits — “ are a great mystery ; but there you 
are, my friends, with your eyes open all night — they 
never shut. This is all wrong, and you are foolish to 
allow it. You never will be happy afterward if you 
allow these things to be always awake in the night. My 
friends, this is only a cunning way this man has, to get 
your skins, and the next thing they will have glass 
eyes, and be placed amongst the skins of the wild 
beasts and birds and snakes. Don't hurt this man ; 
that is my advice. But he is a bug catcher and a mon- 
key skinner ! ” (naturalist, or collector of natural his- 
tory specimens). 

Mr. Catlin, fully appreciating the danger of the situa- 
tion, thus met it: He stipulated for a day of meditation 
upon the subject (which gave his portraits time to dry), 
and then they all met in general council, and with ex- 
treme deliberation he had every subject sit to him once 
more, while he deftly covered from their sight the offend- 
ing pictures with a judicious mixture of white clay and 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


158 

water-colors. Then he bore away the apparently de- 
faced paintings, to the mutual satisfaction of the fright- 
ened Indians and himself, as safely protected for his 
future use as though they had been graven in steel. 

Mr. Catlin’s personal knowledge of the Seminoles 
seems to have been limited. He took a portrait of 
Osceolo just before his death, and gave a most pathetic 
account of the death scene, in which the Indian brave 
carried himself like a hero, and insisted upon being 
dressed in his finest skins and plumes, and decorated 
with abundant war paint, that his enemies might behold 
him at the last as they had always feared him. 

Another Seminole chief, “ Coo-coo-chee, ,, or “Wild 
Cat,” was taken captive, and his views of the white 
man’s policy toward his tribe were as follows : “ I was 
once a boy. Then I saw the white man afar off. I 
hunted in these woods, first with a bow and arrow, then 
with a rifle. I saw the white man, and was told lie 
was my enemy. I could not shoot him as I would a 
wolf or a bear. Yet, like those, he came upon me. 
Horses, cattle, and fields he took from me. He said 
he was my friend. He abused our women and chil- 
dren, and told us to go from the land. Still he gave us 
the hand in friendship. We took it. Whilst taking it, 
he had a snake in the other. His tongue was forked. 
He lied and stung us. I asked but for a small piece of 
these lands — enough to plant and to live upon — far 
south ; a spot where I could lay the ashes of my kin- 
./red ; and even this has not been granted to me. I feel 
the iron in my heart ” — This wail of a much and long- 
suffering soul embodies the Seminole wrongs, and it 
has taken every moment of the half-century that has 
rolled by since the close of the Seminole War to rein- 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


J 59 


spire the tribe with any amount of confidence in us. 
To this day the commodore cannot afford to risk wear- 
ing his official cap on any cruises where his object is 
to get Indian photographs. They suspect him as “Big 
man — Tallahassee,” who may be a government spy, 
and they will have none of him. Only a year ago, a 
party of hunters, with their squaws, pickaninnies, pigs, 
fowl, and household utensils, camped on the shore just 
above Cocoanut Grove for several days. The young men 
and one or two of the braves were coaxed into having 
their photographs taken, and each one received a print 
of himself ; but neither the photographer nor the camera 
were suffered to go near the camp or the female portion 
of the settlement, and when they embarked in their 
canoes the squaws were told to lie down in the bottom 
of them and cover themselves with their blankets, 
which they did to a squaw, and so spoiled the last hope 
of “ our artist.” One of the first Indians to yield to the 
fascination of being perpetuated was “Doctor Tiger.” 

He was not satisfied with a single neckerchief, but 
dangled these articles from his neck to his waist, and 
covered his turban with a particularly brilliant one. 
He has a strong face, and bears a fine reputation for 
skill in hunting and manly pursuits. But ‘ * Big Charlie” 
and ‘ ‘ Little Tiger ” were our favorite braves. The first is 
the father of “ Tommie'*and “Jack Charlie.” It is a mere 
accident, however, that they bear a common surname, 
for there seems to be no system or inheritance of pat- 
ronymics among the Seminoles any more than medical 
significance to the term “ doctor,” All goes by favor, 
and, so far as we have any means of knowing, they 
will answer to a dozen names before they will take the 
trouble to establish any particular claim to one. 


160 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

Our first experience in interviewing a Seminole 
afforded as much amusement to the victims as to us 
no doubt. Indeed, I always had a very strong feeling 
that we were gaining information at the expense of 
dignity — at least in their estimation — for we were 
strangers in their land, and really had no more right to 
force them into conversation than to intrude upon 
their hospitality, both of which acts we were guilty 
of on every possible occasion. 

We had been told that the foundation principle of suc- 
cess in interviewing Indians was conciseness. Mindful 
of that statement, we stood on the deck one De- 
cember afternoon, and watched the approach of “Big 
Charlie ” and his young squaw, the latter with a tiny 
pickaninny in her lap, and another mite sitting in the 
bottom of the canoe beside her. 

The canoe was about twenty feet long, and so narrow 
that it was a great puzzle to me how the woman and her 
children kept in it. “ Madame Charlie ” sat in about 
the centre, upon the bottom of the frail craft, and her 
liege lord made an imposing figurehead at the bow, as 
he poled his family alongside our boat. The inevitable 
Indian dog solemnly regarded us from his post at the 
stern, and a little puppy danced over the intermediate 
piles of personal property which filled the available 
space in the bottom of the canoe, and whined a greet- 
ing that was seconded by an impassive stare on the 
faces of the Indians. 

Nothing daunted, I smiled as if they were old and 
tried friends, and cried out with much real cordial- 
ity, “Howd’y" to “Big Charlie/' whose responsive 
“Howd’y" was low and timid for such a muscular 
fellow, but he returned my smile with interest, and 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 161 

looked our group over with assuring friendliness of 
expression. 

From an Indian’s standpoint, I had done my whole 
duty, and was at liberty to continue my conversation 
with the brave, he standing for the entire family ; but 
from a white woman’s standpoint it was time to greet 
“ Madame Charlie,” which I proceeded to do with a 
second “ Howd’y,” and a closer approach, to which no 
more response was given than if I had been thinnest 
air. Indeed, I felt myself sorely disadvantaged by this 
“ red lady” who sat before me, arrayed in a bright blue 
calico gown, profusely trimmed with bands of white, 
yellow and red cotton cloth, and entirely covered from 
sight, from throat to shoulders, by a mass of white, 
blue and green glass beads, which must have weighed 
many pounds. Her black hair was tightly twisted in 
a knot at the back of her head, and ornamented with 
strips of divers colored cloth interlaced in the coils. 
Over her forehead and eyes hung a straggling bang, 
which was neither neat nor comely, but if trimmed 
about two inches would have transformed her into a 
commonplace, everyday woman. Her eyes were large, 
and as black as night. The nose was straight and the 
mouth well-proportioned and full-lipped. The general 
expression of the woman was dignified, but absolutely 
indifferent to all outside of her own family. She 
dropped her head over her bright-eyed baby, and ar- 
ranged the funny little cap about its round face, never 
deigning to bestow a glance upon our party. 

I looked to ‘ ‘ Big Charlie ” for comfort. “ Y our squaw 
no speak to me. She no look at me. You tell her.” 

He shrugged his broad shoulders and chuckled good- 
naturedly as he looked down upon his “partner” and 
ii 


1 62 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

said a few Indian words, in a gentle fashion, which acted 
like magic. The black eyes were raised and the pretty 
mouth resolved itself into a tiny smile. After a little 
more effort on my part, aided and abetted by offerings 
of cake, picture books, beads and handkerchiefs from 
my hostess, and purchases of venison by the commo- 
dore, the reward came. I was allowed many unusual 
familiarities, such as holding the chubby pickaninny, 
and possessing myself of all the details of their floating 
home ; but the verbal intercourse was extremely one- 
sided. 

“ How old?” I asked, pointing to the baby. Only a 
smile and an inquiring look at “Big Charlie” was the 
result. 

He answered for her: “Four month. Hm-hm.” 
“ Boy?” 

Mother — “ Hm-hm ” — with a nod. 

“ What name ? ” 

The answer was inaudible, and “ Big Charlie” 
pronounced some impossible Indian name, which I 
was glad to let pass without further criticism. 

“You stay here to-night? ” — pointing to the shore. 

“Hm-hm.” 

“ How many day ? ” 

“One, two — hm-hm.” 

“You like cake ? ” — to “ Big Charlie,” 

“ Hm-hm — Un-cah — hm-hm ! ” etc. 

“ Hm-hm” means “Yes,” with a nod ; “No,” with 
a shake of the head ; “ What? ” with a rising inflection ; 
and in fact almost anything according to use. “Un- 
cah” is good. “ Ho-le-wa-gus ” is had. “ Wy-a- 
mee ” is whisky. These few leading points in the 
Seminole language will carry one safely through the 


A N EAST FL OF ID A ROMANCE. 1 63 

perils of Indian interviewing, with the help of un- 
limited gesticulation on both sides. 

Having arrived at this degree of intimacy, I boldly 
approached the photograph question in the following 
manner : Producing family photographs of infants, 
youths and adults, which seemed best suited to my 
purpose, I handed them to our guests, and gave them 
ample time to digest the fact that the pictures rep- 
resented the same ages and conditions in my social 
circle that they did in theirs. After the squaw had 
gazed upon a charming baby portrait with special in- 
terest, and held it up to “ Big Charlie ” for his inspec- 
tion, I said to her: “Pretty pickaninny? like yours? 
Yes. You have one, too?” — at the same time point- 
ing to the commodore, who was waiting and ready. 

The squaw said something to her brave, as through 
consulting with him upon the expediency of accepting 
my offer, and I turned to him for his opinion. 

“You like good picture? Squaw, pickaninnies, 
canoe, you — all ? He take it ; give you one to-morrow. 
You like it ? ” 

“Big- Charlie” smiled, looked at the commodore 
irresolutely, said something to his squaw, who nod- 
ded, as if quite satisfied, and then he replied: “Me 
go away — two week — come again. No good here” — 
pointing to his own and his squaw’s clothes. “Too 
much bad ” — referring to their traveling toilets. 

And with a general nod and “By” from each of 
them, Big Charlie ” poled away from the yacht ; 
and, I regret to say, never again did I see either of 
them. But the experience was profitable, and when 
my second opportunity came, and “Doctor Jimmie 
and his young squaw, with two more pickanninies, 



Dr. Jimmie’s family. 



AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 165 

sailed into Cocoanut Harbor a few days later, I went 
through much the same preliminaries, with the satis- 
factory result of a first attempt at photographing 
the group in their canoe ; and that proved a stepping- 
stone to a second ‘ * sitting ” on shore, wherein “ Doctor 
Jimmie” is seen in his gala attire, with the excep- 
tion of his commonplace trousers, and the young 
mother is gay in all the colors of the rainbow. As 
for the four-year-old boy, he made such a desperate 
attempt to get the proper position that his lower limbs 
looked hopelessly dislocated and warped ; but the 
group as a whole was satisfactory, and, as the first one 
ever taken of a Seminole family, so far as can be 
learned, was a great triumph. 

Probably one of the best authorities on theSeminoles 
now alive is John Addison, who lives on the old Indian 
hunting grounds, a mile and a half south of Cutler, on 
the shore of Biscayne Bay. His father was the first 
settler and sole proprietor of the township of Talla- 
hassee, the present capital of Florida, and the captain 
of the company of whites that did such good service 
in the war of ’46, and the son saw much active serv- 
ice. He came on board the Nethla one morning, and 
enjoyed a good cigar, while the commodore drew him 
into an “ Indian reminiscence/' and I took notes 
around the corner, until the conversation grew so 
interesting that I could not resist the temptation to 
join the party. 

“How many Indians do you suppose you have 
killed, Mr. Add.ison ? ” I asked, while I pondered upon 
the inconsistency of a man with such a genial face 
and kindly blue eyes figuring as a bloodthirsty Indian 
exterminator. 


166 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

“ Wal, I do’ know, I'm sure. A good many, I 
reckon. ” 

“You must have had a good many narrow escapes/' 
I said, beguilingly. 

“Yas. Lots of ’em." 

“What is the closest you can remember ?" 



Mr. Addison. 

“Wal, I guess about ten foot, with an Injun back 
of it. Ef he hadn’t missed his aim that time, I 
wouldn’t be here now, sure and a quiet smile spread 
over the keen face, as he looked up at me with a 
quaint bob of his head. 

“Do you see many Indians at your place, Mr. Addi- 
son ? ” was my next question. 



AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 167 

“Oh, yas. They come in every once in awhile.” 

“Do you think they understand English better than 
they speak it ? ” 

“Jest as well as you do, mostly, and can talk if 
they want to.” 

“Is it quite safe to go to their camps ? ” 

“Sartin— and they will treat you well every time. 

Why, me and went to ‘ Matlo’s ’ camp, and you 

never see such a rattlin’ round to get up a good 
dinner. ‘Matlo’ said, ‘ Bucks stay,’ and I tell you we 
got as fine a dinner as anybody wants. Sweet corn, 
sweet potatoes, Indian corn cake, roast venison, and 
the best of coffee, and plenty of it. Oh, yas. They 
had forty Injuns in that camp — braves and squaws 
and pickaninnies — and everything was as clean and as 
neat as a pin.” 

“Why, I thought Indians were anything but clean.” 

“These Injuns are the neatest people you ever see. 
Oh, yas — and most partikilar about their persons.” 

“ I have been told that a brave can have a second 
squaw when he is forty years old.” 

“ No ; not unless he can hunt enough for two. Then 
he can have three or four. Just as many as he can 
take care of.” 

“ Have they any marriage ceremony ? ” 

“Wal, when a Injun wants to marry a woman, he 
goes to her house and lays down his gun and his 
presents. If she wants him, she takes them in, and 
then they are counted married. And I tell you, they 
are the truest people to each other that you ever did 
see.” 

“What is done to an Indian that does not support 
his wife ? ” 


1 68 


AN EAST ELORWA ROMANCE. 


“The chief turns him out.” 

“And what becomes of his squaw ? ” 

“She is given to some Injun who will support her.” 
“ And how about the children ? ” 

“ Every brave in the settlement takes care of ’em. 
Why, if a Injun dies and his squaw is left with pickan- 
innies, I have known a visiting party of fifty braves to 
bring in presents to those orphans. ” 

“ Have they any burial service? ” 

“Wal, I do’ know; but they bury ’em near their 
settlement, and speak of ’em as ‘gone to long sleep ’ — 
‘Great Spirit got ’em.’ They have one day in every 
week to cry over ’em too.” 

“ Is there one chief of the whole tribe ? ” 

“ Yas — generally. He has subchiefs, like our 
President and Governors.” 

“ Do you think there will be any more war with the 
Seminoles, Mr. Addison ? ” 

“No; no more war. Old ‘Tiger Tail,’ who killed 
hundreds of whites, said to me, one time shortly before 
he died, * Injun no more fight.’ Then he drew a circle, 
and pointing all round it, at short distances, he said, 
‘Whites here, and here, and here.’ Then, pointing to 
the centre, he said, ‘Injuns here — no more fight.’” 
“Who is the superior chief now ? ” 

“Wal, I guess they ain’t had one since ‘ Micco’ was 
killed. ‘ Matlo’ would be if they liked him, but they 
don’t.” 

“ Who killed ‘ Micco ’ ? ” 

“A crazy nigger in his camp, who killed five Injuns 
before they could stop him.” 

“ How did he happen to be there?” 

“Oh, he belonged to ’em.” 


AM EAST FLO Rib A ROMA ME. 169 

f * You 'don’t mean that he was a slave ? ” 

“Yes. Law! they have lots of ’em yet.” 

“ Why, do they stay in slavery, when they are 
legally free ? ” 

“Bless you ! they are freer than we be now. You 
couldn’t coax ’em away from the Injuns. They don’t 
know or care nothing about law, no more than the 
Injuns does, and they are well used.” 

“ How many Indians do you think there are in 
Florida now, Mr. Addison ? ” 

“Wall, it’s hard tellin’. I saw as many as fifty 
canoes at Brickell’s last July.” (Brickell’s is a trading 
house on the south bank of the mouth of the Miami). 
“They was all goin’ up to the Green Corn Dance/ 
That’s their Thanksgiving, you know.” 

“Yes? Do tell us about it.” 

“Wall, they stand a pole in the ground, and then 
they lay four logs in a square about it. The chiefs sit 
on these logs. They ain’t allowed to dance, you see. 
It wouldn’t be dignified. Then all the rest of the tribe 
begins a dance round ’em, and keeps it up for three 
days. They have a powerful lot of stuff to eat and 
drink, and take turns at it ; but there always is turn 
and turn about, in drinking, specially, and a part of ’em 
will be sober and on watch while the rest enjoy ’em- 
selves.” 

“Are the Seminoles honest? ” 

“ They have to be. They will slice off their noses 
for lyin’ and their ears for stealin’. ‘ Big Charlie ’ lost 
a part of his right ear, when he was a young buck, for 
stealin’.” 

“Are they grateful or revengeful? ” 

“ Wal, you see it is like this ; If a Injun sees a face 


1^0 


Atf EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


once, he never forgets it — not if he didn’t see it for a 
thousand years. And if you should be good to an 
Injun, and, years after, a war should break out where 
you were, that Injun would travel miles to warn you, 
so you could get out. And if you wouldn’t get out, he 
would kill you himself good, to keep other Injuns from 
punishing you. Why, old ‘Tiger Tail’ warned old 
Simpson down ’ere twice. Says he, ‘Simpson, Injun 
fight. You go.’ Simpson was old and lazy, and 
didn’t want to go. ‘ Tiger Tail’ come back another time. 
‘Simpson, Injun fight. You go. If you no go, 
“ Tiger Tail ” kill you good .’ Still Simpson didn’t go, 
and at the last moment ‘Tiger Tail’ come and shot 
his old friend, to save him from wus.” 

“ Did they scalp their war prisoners ? ” 

“They did, until we scalped one of their old chiefs, 
and that cured them of scalpin’. They come and got 
his body and penned it right up with logs, and put a lot of 
books on the top of the pen — I do ’ know what kind, 
but they was books, sure. ’Bout that time we hearn 
tell that they had sent out some scouts ter steal niggers 
and mules and things. So twenty-five of us followed 
on their trail. We followed ’em for five days, and at 
last we caught all of ’em but one. There was seven. 
Wal, if it hadn’t been for a strong southeast wind 
blowing, so the Injuns couldn’t hear our firing, we’d 
’er been wiped out fur sure, fur there were three hun- 
dred Seminoles a-waitin’ outside. But we killed the 
six, and carried back seven niggers and three mules 
and two pigs that they had stole.” 

And so the old man rambled on, until obliged to 
leave us ; and a few weeks later we sailed down the 
bay to his landing, and called upon Mrs. Addison, who 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


171 

received us with real Southern hospitality, and gra- 
ciously permitted the commodore to photograph, not 
only her house and dining-room, but herself. 

‘ ‘ I’ll j ust go in an d straighten m y hair a bit, ” she said ; 
soon, however, returning in an entirely fresh toilet. 
“I thought I wouldn’t fix up much, you see — just plain 
and homelike. Will this do ? ” 

I could have hugged her, she looked so deliciously 
quaint, with her fine black dress, heavy brocaded apron 
and little stiff collar. If only some one could develop 
the art of photographing colors, then my readers could 
see the wealth of flaming blossoms that frame the Addi- 
son home, and appreciate the magnificence of that 
brocaded apron. Rumor hath it that this good woman, 
who rejoices in having come from “the best Florida 
society in the north of the State,” is the possessor of 
trunks full of rare and costly garments, which she must 
regard as art lovers do collections of bric-a-brac or 
paintings, for here she has lived for twenty years, 
miles away from any neighbors, and often only a few 
feet removed from wild beasts and Indians. 

“Are you never lonely here, Mrs. Addison?” I 
asked. 

“Oh, yes’m. I’m used to the best society, and I 
never shall get used to this place.” And this, after a 
twenty years’ experience ! 

It was John Addison who told me the pathetic story - 
of “ Billy Bowlegs,” and he assured me that very few 
outsiders had ever heard it. That tragedy was in 1848, 
when Mr. Addison was a young man. He asserts 
that “ Billy Bowlegs ” “was the smartest Indian that 
ever lived. Could talk like a white man, and had a 
great liking for the whites.” 


172 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


“Old Tiger,” the father of “Little Tiger,” was in 
the battle of New Orleans, and, according to the same 
authority, “was killed by thunder.” 

Mrs. Addison was as generous in her patience with 
my questions as her husband, and told me many facts 
concerning the camp life of the Seminoles, as seen 
from her piazza. They particularly affected a cleared 
spot of hammock land, within sight of her front door, 
and would often camp there for a week at a time. 
The men would bring the wood, make the fire, and 
supply the venison, game and fish. The women 
would set up the tent poles and spread the musquito 
nets, if warm and pleasant, or gather palmetto leaves 
and construct a temporary thatch. They do all the 
curing of skins, cutting and jerking of meats, raising 
of vegetables and sewing, and “keep the place more 
nicer than we do.” She said the Indian girls were 
pretty, modest and reserved. Unfortunately, I did not 
see one while I was in Florida. 

In speaking of their burial customs, Mrs. Addison 
said that she knew of one Indian burial “pen” that 
had been seen within ten years on the Miami shore, 
but she believed that the Seminoles had learned to 
bury their dead as we do. They follow the same 
custom that the Cubans do, in spirit, at least, and bury 
all the departed’s treasures with them. 

Speaking of “ Matlo,” the oldest and the most un- 
popular Seminole brave now alive, recalls a unique 
experience of last Christmas. 

Early in the day a cry went through the yacht, in- 
tended particularly for my ears. I hastened on deck, 
and beheld, not three hundred feet distant, under the 
cocoanut trees, the old warrior himself. He was ac- 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 173 

companied by a young brave, whose costume was 
something gorgeous to behold. 

To be rowed ashore, accompanied by the commo- 
dore and his camera, was a matter of a few minutes, 
and a fierce resolve to return with nothing less than 
“Matlo’s” photograph took full possession of me. 

The commodore was skeptical. “ The old fox never 
will let me get a shot at him. He is one of the old 
sort,” he declared ; but I hugged my own collection 
of pictures and my resolve, with equal faith, and 
landed, with an external courage that quite sur- 
prised myself. There they stood stolid — straight and 
staring, like two owls. I smiled upon them as blandly 
as though they were two society lions, and nodding 
at the same time with a cool familiarity that was bound 
to prove my success or my undoing, I launched my 
first broadside at them. 

“ Howdy ? ” — to “Matlo” “ Howd’y ? ” — to his 
friend. “ Matlo ” rolled his tobacco to the northeast 
corner of his mouth, squirted a quantity of juice over 
his right shoulder, wiped off his lips and cheek with 
the back of his right hand, and grunted “ Howd’y, ” as 
he looked me over from head to foot, in the meantime 
keeping fast hold of a bottle of pineapple wine that 
had been given him. 

It is quite superfluous to go through with the partic- 
ulars of the somewhat tedious process of inducing 
old “Matlo” and his “dude” friend, “Cypress 
Charlie,” to submit their charms to the commodore’s 
skill, and the results must rest upon their own merits. 
I very much doubt, however, if “Matlo” was ever so 
nervous under fire of the enemy as while that camera 
was pointed at him,; and as for “Cypress Charlie,” 


? — 



“ Matlo *’ and “ Cypress Charlie.” 



AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


*75 

his broad, good-natured face became positively terrific 
under the same spell. 

For majestic pose and monumental self-conceit, as 
well as intelligence and general fascination, “Little 
Tiger/’ stands foremost. 

He actually offered himself for perpetuation, and 
when I asked him to go and get his squaw, he an- 
swered : “ Me squaw no good here ” — pointing to his 
face. “No good here” — passing his hands over his 
garments. Then, with a roguish smile, he straighten- 
ed himself and added, ‘ ‘ Me much good here. Hm-hm ! 
Much good picture take. Hm-hm ! ” So he was 
“taken” with a borrowed “white man’s plume ” in 
his turban, and his trusty rifle in his hands, tall, self- 
reliant and keen-eyed ; “ little ” in nothing but name. 

His handsome boy, “ Wild Cat,” is always eager to 
be photographed, and aptly illustrates the wide dif- 
ference between the picturesqueness of his native cos- 
tume and 'the unmitigated ugliness of “store clothes” 
in the two portraits given. In the latter garments 
he sets off “ Jack Charlie’s ” Indian garb, to great ad- 
vantage. 

As I recall those bright, well-made, manly fellows, 
and consider their industry, skill in athletic sports, 
self-respect, obedience toward their elders, tenderness 
toward youth and old age, and general worthiness, I 
cannot help once more quoting from the “Indian-lov- 
ing Catlin ” his “Creed,” written in 1 868 : 

“ Have I any apology to make for loving the Indians ? 

“The Indians have always loved me, and why should I not love 
the Indians ? 

“ I love the people who have always made me welqome to the best 
they had. 



“ Jack Charlie ” and, “ Wild Cat.** 



AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


177 

“ I love the people who are honest without laws, who have no jails 
and no poorhouses. 

“ I love the people who keep the Commandments without ever 
having read them or heard them preached from the pulpit. 

“ I love a people who never swear, who never take the name of 
God in vain. 

“ I love a people who love their neighbors as themselves. 

“ I love a people who worship God without a Bible, for I believe 
that God loves them also. 

“ I love a people whose religion is all the same, and who are free 
from religious animosities. 

“I love a people who have never raised a hand against me or stolen 
my property, where there was no law to punish for either. 

“ I love a people who never have fought a battle with white men 
except on their own ground. 

“ I love and don’t fear mankind, where God has made and left 
them, for they are children. 

“ I love a people who live and keep what is their own without 
locks and keys. 

“ I love all people who do the best they can, and oh ! how I love 
a people who don’t live for the love of money ! ” 


There is no virtue mentioned in the foregoing tribute 
that does not belong to the Seminole tribe of Indians, 
and it was a constant delight to me to gather evidence 
from the white settlers through the Miami region of 
their uprightness in all their undertakings. Mrs. Brickell 
says she has loaned as large a sum as five hundred 
dollars to individual Seminoles, and never lost a dollar 
by them. As the winter slipped away, but one un- 
gratified ambition, in connection with my “Seminole 
fad,” disturbed my mind, and that was the apparently 
unattainable glimpse and picture of an Indian village. 
The commodore declared himself perfectly willing to 
go and to take our party to any settlement that there 
was any certainty of finding, but he considered a 
U 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


178 

possibly wild-goose chase among the Everglade soli- 
tudes as both futile and dangerous. 

At the eleventh hour, or, more literally speaking, 
four days before the ‘ : N ethla ” stretched her white wings 
and carried us further south, a guide was found, and, 
with hope renewed, we set sail again for the Miami, 
with three light-draft boats trailing at our stern, and 
our minds made up to go through anything, so that it 
led to a Seminole camp. The day was warm, and 
the sky heavy with rainclouds, which hung lower 
and lower, as we took to the small boats and were 
rowed, poled, paddled, pushed and pulled up the lovely 
stream, which grew more and more narrow the nearer 
we approached the Everglades, until even the female 
contingent were obliged to get out and stumble along 
over the coral edges, while the men dragged the boats 
over the rocks and through the rapids into the Ever- 
glade trail. Never shall I forget that scene. Imagine 
acres and acres of saw-grass waving in every direc- 
tion, like a giant cornfield. On the horizon lay stretches 
of forest melting into feathery distances. At intervals 
lay dots of wooded islands apparently untrodden by 
the foot of man or beast. Strange birds swept through 
the air. The cry of one of them was like a lost child. 
A goldfish leaped into the air almost across the 
steward’s oar, and white lilies, like Easter lilies, nodded 
at us as their roots were stirred by our passage. 

At last a small cabin appeared a short distance before 
us. A few moments later, “John Billy, ” son-in-law 
of “Billy Harney,” gave us a pleasant nod and 
“Howd’y,” as he helped us mount the wooden plat- 
form which saved us from a mud bath. 

We followed him into the camp, and found “Billy 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


179 

Harney ” sitting on the edge of a rough table, upon 
which was spread dried corn, beans, starch, and other 
products of their fields. His daughters, with their 
pickaninnies, were grouped near the cooking shanty, 
and the eldest of them seemed to be in charge of the 
great iron kettle which swung above the log fire. 

The old man shook hands with each of us, and was 
quite ready to talk. But to be frank, I did not feel 
thoroughly at ease. I was certain that the men were 
kindly disposed, but I discerned in the women's faces 
a distinct resentment, which all our offerings of various 
trifles failed to remove. Indeed, the presiding genius 
of the culinary department calmly folded the hand- 
kerchief given her in the leaves of the accompanying 
book, and handed both back to the donor, with a 
curious gesture of disdain. It was not until purchases 
of corn and beans were effected that she made the least 
attempt at civility ; and the younger women kept up a 
continual comment upon our party, between them- 
selves, with numerous outbursts of laughter and sug- 
gestive shrugs. 

While the rest of the party were moving about and 
absorbing the attention of our host, who kindly but 
firmly declined being photographed, the little detective 
did its work, as well as it could under the circumstances, 
and when we took our leave, it was with mingled feel- 
ings of Satisfaction and regret. 

It must be confessed that there is nothing in the 
least romantic about a Seminole camp. The principal 
house belongs to the head of the settlement, and in 
“Billy Harney’s" camp was the only dwelling that 
boasted four boarded-in sides. The others were. com- 
posed of four posts, surmounted by a thatched roof. 



\ 


Billy Harney’s Camp 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


i$i 

A platform, or floor of logs, raised about two feet above 
the ground, affords sitting and sleeping accommoda- 
tions, and other shanties of like construction are de- 
voted to the storage of food, clothing and household 
belongings. 

With the advantages of an unrivaled climate, a free 
pastoral and absolutely normal existence, good morals 
and self-respecting independence, it is hard to see how 
the government can better these unrivaled people, 
except by protecting them just where they are. 


182 


AM EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE, 


CHAPTER XIX. 

THE ROYAL PALM. 

“ The wand of Progress touched the wilderness 
And lo — a Palace.” 

Lake Worth, with its nestling- cottages, its “ Royal Jr 
hospitality, its gardens, fruits, and flowers, grew more 
and more fascinating to the girls with every happy hour 
spent on its land and its waters, for the same name 
applies to both lake and town. They made excursions 
to Pitts Island, the Inlet, Lantana, and a short way 
down the canal. The men went bass-fishing, on the 
beach, and deep-sea fishing on the pier, but preferred to 
defer shark and king fishing until they reached Bis- 
cayne Bay. The girls joined them in bicycle runs to 
the Rubber Tree, the beautiful Cragin Place, the Pine- 
apple Plantations, and the thriving village across the 
water. Even tennis and clay-pigeon shooting was in- 
dulged in, as well as some delightful dances, but a 
telegram from Philip announcing his arrival at Miami 
as certain for Sunday morning decided Eleanor in break- 
ing away from the Royal Poinciana on Saturday after- 
noon. 

“Men are such unreasonable creatures! ” she said. 
“ Philip dashes off at a moment’s warning and leaves 
me to make the best of it, and yet he would be awfully 
hurt if I was not ready to welcome him whenever and 
wherever he decided to find me 1 ” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 183 

“ And you would be heartbroken if he was not awfully 
hurt, darling,” whispered Elizabeth, under cover of a 
helpful pull at Eleanor’s jacket. 

Mrs. Bartlett had spent her days at the Royal Poin- 
ciana in “just basking ” as she expressed it, and every- 
body complimented her upon the evident gain result- 
ing from that wise process. 

The train left West Palm Beach at eight o’clock, and 
was due at Miami at half-past ten. 

“No moon, to-night ! ” sighed Christine. 

“You ungrateful child! We can’t have moonlight 
all the time, even in Florida,” said Eleanor. 

They did not lack entertainment, however, even if 
nothing was to be seen of the country they were speed- 
ing through but the fire-flies, scattering cabin lights, 
the stations they stopped at, and fleeting bits that were 
illuminated by the train’s lights. 

Christine was in one of her gayest moods. 

Elizabeth and Arnold compared notes upon what they 
were approaching, and the rest of the party variously 
occupied themselves and each other. 

As they arrived at Miami and w r ere carried through 
the city into the grounds of the Royal Palm, everybody 
looked eager and curious. 

Electric lights glowed brilliantly all along the broad 
white avenue, and threw the palms, palmettoes and 
shrubs into prominence. 

“ They have not spoiled the place by cutting down all 
the trees, I’m thankful to see,” said Elizabeth. “One 
always associates bareness with new places, don’t you 
think?” 

When the Royal Palm burst upon them, everybody 
exclaimed, “Ah, ah, look! ” 


i g 4 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

“ I say, Arnold, this beats everything we have seen 
yet, for a place not a year old ; dug right out of rock 
and jungles, and built of materials brought thousands of 
miles! By Jove! I think it is the greatest wondcrof the 
world ! ” said Frisby. 

“Oh, Philip !” cried Eleanor, joyfully. “When did 
you get here? How lovely ! Now we are all right/’ 

“You have no idea of the place at all until you see it 
by daylight,” said Philip Maxwell. “ We’ll have din- 
ner, and then investigate the inside, so you will be ready 
to go about in the morning.” 

“I’m tired,” said Elizabeth, throwing herself into the 
low rocker by her window and pushing back the lace 
curtains. 

“I’m sure we must have walked miles over this 
huge house. It’s comfortable enough, I mean solid 
enough, to live in with the thermometer down to zero. 
Doesn’t it seem strange to think that it’s never cold 
here. I wish I could see the view. ” 

“ I am quite willing to go to bed and wait until 
morning for my views,” said sleepy Christine. “The 
rooms are the largest we have had, yet. I never saw 
such spacious chambers anywhere. Even my great 
corner room at home would shake around in this. There 
is a general style all through the house that makes me 
think of the Royal Poinciana ; dear old Poinciana ! I 
wonder if we shall like this place as well ; R. P. That’s 
odd. Both houses have the same initials. I should 
think they would get their linen and silver all mixed up. 
Good-night, Beth. Isn’t it time you went to bed ? ” 

“Yes, dear, its twelve o’clock, but my head is so full 
of what we’ve seen that I think I’ll just sit down and 


The Royal Palm. 



i86 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


describe it for father before I forget anything. Mr. 
Arnold gave me some figures. Let me see.” 

Drawing a chair to the well furnished writing-desk, 
Elizabeth’s pen scratched away busily, long after 
Christine fell asleep, and three days later Dr. Hunter 
received the following letter. 

The Royal Palm, Miami, Florida. 

‘‘February 5th ’97. 

“ Father Dearest, — 

“ I am afraid you are having a cold, dismal time while 
your girls are enjoying themselves. If you were with 
us our happiness would be complete. I have told you 
about St. Augustine and by this time you have received 
my Lake Worth letter. And now where am I to find 
adjectives for this splendid, great hotel ! Remember- 
ing your interest in details I asked Mr. Arnold, of 
whom I have written, to put down some items, as our 
guide gave them this evening while we made the tour of 
inspection, for we have been here only four hours, and 
know nothing of the outside yet. 

“ First, The foundation bricks were laid on the fourth 
of last May. Think of that ! The house is five stories 
high, except the central section, which is six. The 
principal entrances are in the centre under high porti- 
coes supported by fine Corinthian columns. The ro- 
tunda, ball-room dining-room, and halls are finished in 
Ionic and Corinthian columns, arches and cornices. 
The hotel is six hundred and eighty feet long and two 
hundred and sixty-seven feet wide. Rotunda and ball- 
room, together (they are, practically, one,) are fifty 
by one hundred and forty-six feet, and the dining-room 
is about one hundred and thirty-eight feet long. A 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 187 

veranda, sixteen feet wide, runs completely around the 
eastern half of the house, making a promenade over 
eight hundred feet long. 

“The interior finish of the house, like the Royal Poin- 
ciana and the Inn, is pure white. You cannot imagine 
the effect without seeing it, but it is the acme of ele- 
gance. There are two passenger elevators, large bil- 
liard, writing and reading-rooms, private dining-rooms 
and every convenience you could find in any grand city 
hotel. There’s a roof promenade, that I long to go 
to, by daylight, and there are four hundred and fifty 
sleeping-rooms, averaging twelve by eighteen feet, 
(but I am sure ours is fully twenty feet square) and 
such splendid great closets in every one of them ! 
nearly one hundred of these bedrooms have private 
white-enamelled baths, and they (the rooms, not the 
baths), are all furnished in the richest and most charm- 
ing manner. I must not forget to assure you that the 
sanitary and plumbing work is said to be of the most 
approved and latest kind, and the water comes from an 
immense spring five miles away. My little paper says, 

‘ The electric light plant consists of a La Roche new 
low-potential transformer system ” (what in the world 
is that ?) especially designed for this hotel, and abso- 
lutely fire-proof. There is not a chandelier in the 
house, that I have seen, but the lights are in clusters 
about the ceilings, in the cornices, and in the bed- 
rooms arranged so as to be placed wherever most con- 
venient. One of the most fascinating things about the 
place is the system of lighting the verandas and grounds 
with incandescent, vari-colored lamps that give an ex- 
quisite effect to everything. The little paper states 
that ‘ it has taken sixty miles of wire and tubing to do 



From the Royal Palm Tower. 



AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


189 

all this ’ and that ‘ the entire plant has stood an insul- 
ation test of seven million ohms.’ I suppose you 
understand it all, father dear. It is Greek to me, but 
the result certainly is superb. The general effect of 
the house as you come into it is — well there seems to 
be no better word than the one used so universally, in 
connection with all this system — palatial. But it is a 
livable, enjoyable, comfortable palace that is intended 
for use, and, as I look around, I already begin to 
‘fit in’ and am certain my dreams will be delight- 
ful, for I hear the water lapping gently on the shore 
and the cocoanut leaves rustling softly. A bird is 
singing somewhere near ; a mocking-bird or Ameri- 
can nightingale. We heard them every night at Lake 
Worth ; delicious trills and sweeps that make me nearly 
die of envy. Now have I not been a good girl and 
told you all I know, and more too? To-morrow we 
are to see the new City, and you shall hear from me 
verv soon, again. 

“ Your loving, 

“ Elizabeth.” 


190 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


CHAPTER XX. 

THE MAGIC CITY. 

“ When the dawn appears, it seems as if it were brought amidst 
plants and a sweet-scented wind.” 

Everybody was prompt at breakfast the next morn- 
ing. Philip Maxwell had expressed the wish that an 
early start be made, “ for my time is precious, and 
may be cut off at any moment, you know. I am im- 
patient to see what has happened since I was down 
here six years ago.” 

“Six years ! It’s a pity you can’t appreciate, as we, 
who never were here before, that the changes have 
been within twelve months,” Arnold had said. 

They fell to discussing the subject at the table. 

“When the yacht I was on came up from Cocoanut 
Grove,” said Maxwell, “it seems to me we dropped 
anchor quite a little way from Brickell’s, over on the 
other bank of the river, and had to land in the dingey, 
because the water was so shallow. Both banks were 
bordered with splendid great oleander trees, that were 
massed in between the cocoanuts, and were covered 
with pink and white blossoms. I wish they had not 
cut them down. ‘Brickell’s’ looks about the same, 
except that the bay shore has been cut away some- 
what ; but this point is another place entirely. We 
came over to the Fort Dallas landing, and could not 
see anything before us but a thicket of trees, vines and 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


I 9 I 

flowers. There were paths and old roads running in 
different directions. The building that is called Fort 
Dallas, you can get a glimpse of now, across these 
lawns to the right. It was then occupied by a hospi- 
table Charlestonian, called by many, the ‘ Duke of 
Dade,’ who extended to us the courtesies of the estate, 
and took us to see the ruins of former buildings, used 
by the army during the Seminole war, when it was 
quite an .important post. We can walk over there, 
through the kindness of its present owner, who is 
much more interesting than even her possessions. 
Think of a young woman coming into this wilderness, 
when there was no way of reaching it except by 
water ; when mails were seldom more frequent than 
once in two weeks, and New York practically across 
the ocean. Then realize the pluck, energy, and prac- 
tical sense that guided her in purchasing, cultivating, 
and improving the land all up and down this side of 
the Miami for many hundred acres. 

“When the East Coast Railroad reached Lake 
Worth, her carefully laid plans were quickly pushed to 
an early fruition by her prompt action. She invited 
the officials to come to Fort Dallas, and they came. 
She showed them this unparalleled site for another 
Flaglerian palace, and pointed out the united values of 
waters, skies, climate, and soil. She convinced them 
of the possibilities, and then made such offers of land 
as completed the dream of her life, in the opening of 
the rest of this coast to this Biscayne Bay region, and 
in the building of this magic city that we are. to see 
to-day. Now, let us go across the grounds, by the 
sea wall, and get a view of the home of this remark- 
able woman. 



Fort Dallas, 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 193 

With one accord, they passed out of the hotel, down 
to the river’s edge, and followed the path until they 
reached the gateway into the next estate. 

“ It is visitor’s day. They told me so at the desk,” 
said Philip Maxwell, as he led the way. 

Pausing at the boat-house, they turned to get the 
whole picture. 

The trim lawn, dotted over with luxuriant flowering 



shrubs and towering palms, made a soft foreground 
for the sloping-roofed house and its balcony and pil- 
lared supports, while just beyond, gleamed the impos- 
ing hotel, like a giant ocean steamer moored next a 
pleasure yacht. 

A royal Poinciana tree, the special pride of its mis- 
tress’ heart, stood near. “ Most graceful of trees,” de- 
clared Elizabeth, “and most royal of flowers ! ” 


i3 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


194 

In walking through the lovely bit of hammock* that 
separates Fort Dallas from the city, they spied two 
young girls coming toward them. One was picking 
some wayside blossoms, and the other was taking a 
snap-shot of the view they had just been enjoying. 
Five minutes’ walk further on revealed the heart of the 
city. 'Across the little park, business, houses, and 
hotels made a ■goodly showing, and at intervals broad 
avenues intersected each other, stretching away into 
the country. 

“ Here is another enterprise of ‘ The Lady of Fort 
Dallas,’ ” said Maxwell as they walked toward the river. 

“ Hotel Miami ! — I suppose this is open all the 
year,” said Arnold. “ It must accommodate several 
hundred people — and see this sign — ‘ Miami Town Lots 
Now On Sale! — That’s her agency. ‘ Prices from 
$ 100 , to $1,000 per tot. Railroad Fare. to Miami over the 
Florida East Coast Railway will be refunded to each 
purchaser of a lot.” 

“ Now, Miss Maxwell, here is a chance for you to 
invest and save your travelling expenses,” cried Frisby, 
who looked at everything with thinly concealed 
impatience. 

“ How many streets do you think it is necessary 
to inspect ? ” he whispered to Christine. “They are 
certainly wide and clean and much more attractive 
than any ten months’ place I ever saw before ; but a 
little of this fun satisfies me. Why not take a boat 
and make somebody else do the work ? ” 

“ You lazy man ! go back to the hotel, if you are 
tired,” answered Christine — for the benefit of the public, 
but making a fascinating little gesture for Frisby’s sole 
benefit that encouraged, him to independent action. 



“ A snap shot. 


196 AN EAST FLOklDA ROMANCE. 

‘‘Miss Christine, I deny the implied allegation of 
indolence, and will show you some real alligators if 
you will go over to the salt pond where they grow. 
In fact a number of man-eaters — genuine crocodiles. 
You remember the account in ‘In Biscayne Bay ’ of 
that excursion, don’t you? Why not make it for our- 
selves. We can get Miss Hunter to play the part of 
photographer with the grace peculiar to herself.” 

“ Oh, oh ! just picture Elizabeth and all the rest of 
us, trailing along over the sand on our hands and knees ! 
I should die of hysterics ! ” screamed Christine. 

“ Then let us see all the other sights first,” calmly 
remarked Elizabeth who had a horror of attracting 
attention, and did not approve of monopolizing the 
whole sidewalk. “ Let’s walk over the bridge and see 
the other shore.” 

With only an hour’s rest during which they returned 
to the Royal Palms and enjoyed luncheon with unprece- 
dented appetites, the entire day passed in seeing the 
little city and its immediate vicinity, and five o’clock 
found them in the eastern veranda. 

“Now what is the history of this city, Eleanor ? ” 
asked Maxwell. “You’ve been spending a good deal 
of time in reading about it. Let us profit by your 
admirable research.” 

“In a nutshell then, without touching upon any 
facts earlier than three hundred years ago, it has prob- 
ably been the home of Indians, whose mounds and 
relics have been found on both sides of the river ; and 
it was also the resting-place of some of the followers of 
Ponce de Leon. As late as February, 1808, the Spanish 
Government granted some land about here to a certain 


The Other Shore. 



AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


198 

John Egan, and he settled upon it and cultivated some 
portions of it. After passing through various hands and 
being used, and abused by the exigencies of the Sem- 
inole war, and governmental needs, it came into 
the possession of Mrs. Julia D. Tuttle, the present 
occupant of Fort Dallas, who planned the city of 
Miami, donated a tract of one hundred acres, for this 
hotel and most of the business portion, and gave every 
alternate lot in the 540 acres outside of this and her 
private grounds to the prince of this coast whose com- 
ing made possible such splendid things, in consideration 
for which he agreed to extend his railroad to Miami, 
build this house, provide the city with water-works, 
pay for its survey and for cleaning of the streets.” 

“ Three cheers for the clever woman ! ” cried Eliza- 
beth — glad to make a demonstration of some sort — for 
she was looking at a sky that blazed in a tropical after- 
math, and surpassed anything she had ever beheld in 
glory of purples, gold and crimsons. 

They were in a happy mood. 

The air was as soft and fragrant as though it came 
from a June garden of roses, and as clear as Crystal. 

Philip’s voice suddenly rang out : 

“ How is that for a picture of the New and the Old ? ” 

Just across the opposite curve of the river steamed 
toward them the “Key West” bound for Miami, while 
close to the sea wall of the hotel grounds passed a 
canoe pulled by two Seminoles. 


The New and the Old. 





i 

» 

TV 

* 


HX4- m ati 


2oo 


AN EAST EL OS ID A ROMANCE. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

WHY NOT? 

“ Floating and fleeting to and fro.” 

“Why not? Everybody does here, and Arnold will 
take Miss Hunter in another boat. The Bartletts can 
go in the launch with the Maxwells and they may get 
there first ; but with this wind we ought to keep a clean 
pace,” said Frisby to Christine, a few days later. 

Christine looked over the bay. She seemed in no 
haste to answer. Life was growing to be a puzzle 
and she felt a vague resentment against Frisby — who 
formed an ever-present element in it; against Bartlett, 
who gave her no smallest cause for considering him 
either pro or con, beyond unfailing courtesy and friend- 
liness ; against Arnold, who certainly exerted a curi- 
ous influence over Frisby, and, most of all, against 
herself for not being perfectly happy with such ideal 
surroundings. 

On the southern bank of the Miami the cocoanuts 
rustled their giant leaves with a sound like a sudden 
shower. She could hear it distinctly from where they 
were sitting, by the sea-wall. Sea-gulls skimmed the 
lovely waters and floated here and there on the waves. 

A cluster of Royal Palms towered above her. Pelicans 
tumbled and dived within a stone’s-throw of the shore, 


AM EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


201 



and schools of small fish flashed through the air before 
the greedy pursuit of larger finny foe. 

On the eastern horizon clouds lay piled high in fleecy 
ranges. 

From north to south white-winged yachts, gay little 


Royal Palm Trees. 

launches, light-draft catboats, row-boats and canoes 
spun threads of silver through the azure ways while the 
house-boats anchored nearby and the trading and fish- 
ing schooners completed the busy, newly-born life of 
Biscayne Bay. 


202 


AM EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


She looked up at Frisby questioningly. 

His face evidenced perturbed feeling. 

“ Why not ? ” she repeated after him — as though all 
the rest of his sentence was unheard. “It seems un- 
necessary to use so many boats for only eight people. 
You have been very good to take me about so much, 
but I think Eleanor will be glad to have us together 
to-day. ” 

“And you ? ” He spoke with evident effort, and sud- 
denly broke off. A step behind them, followed by a 
cheerful voice, made Christine turn. 

“Good-morning, Mr. Arnold. Yes, I’m really up for 
the day, and Mr. Frisby is telling me of the plan for 
Arch Creek. Don’t you think it will be nice to all go 
together in a launch ? We can tow a small boat along, 
and see a great deal more in the morning’s run, than 
we could in a day’s sailing.” 

Arnold looked relieved. Christine couldn’t imagine 
why, but he certainly did. 

“That’s a good idea. I’ll gather the clan at once. 
Come, Harold, excuse yourself, and lend me your ex- 
perience, I am no judge of launches.” 

It was a day never to be forgotten. Not only for the 
fairylike beauties of Arch Creek, but because the wheel 
of fate did an unusual amount of turning, and five of 
the party became aware of facts that changed their 
whole after-lives. Yet nothing startling happened, 
and neither Eleanor Maxwell, Philip, nor Mrs. Bartlett 
were conscious of anything but the perfect day and 
its material conditions. So much for mortal per- 
ception. 

Elizabeth’s thought as she kissed Christine good- 
night, was — ‘ ‘ Do you care for him, or not. ” Christine’s 





Off to Arch Creek. 




204 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


was an exact duplicate, but the personal pronoun re- 
ferred to quite another man. 

John Bartlett dreamed that Frisby was pulling Chris- 
tine under the water and he was powerless to help her. 

Arnold and Frisby parted with a curiously laconic 
remark of the former’s ; “ I mean it, Harold.” 

They had coasted down the bay and given Philip 
time to see all the places of special interest to him. 

“The shores below Miami look about as they did, 



Driving through the Pines. 


until you come to Cocoanut Grove,” he said, in re- 
viewing the situation. 

“The upper part of the town is entirely new, except 
one or two houses that are so much improved that you’d 
never recognize them. Peacock Inn is wonderfully 
bettered ; both house and grounds ; and that business 
street nearly paralyzed me ; but the oddest thing was 
to see people driving through the woods and actually 
riding bicycles. I met an old friend in a little two- 
\y heeled, one-horse affair that looked awfully comfort- 


Peacock Inn 



2o6 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


able. She drove with one hand and held her sun- 
umbrella over her head with the other ; said she was 
going down to Cutler. It did seem strange enough. 
The private places along there are beginning to look 
like more northern resorts, and the Yacht Club keeps 
things lively. Eleanor declares she would like to own 



Coots. 


a winter home somewhere in that vicinity. I dare say 
she will have it, for Elizabeth seems to be growing more 
and more enthusiastic about Florida, and when two 
of them agree on anything they generally form an 
overwhelming majority. What do you think of coots 
for eating, girls ? There comes the boat up the landing, 
with another lot that Arnold and Bartlett bagged this 





Along Biscayne Bay Shores. 





208 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


morning. I promised to go kingfishing this afternoon. 
Who speaks to go ? " 

None of the female contingent cared to repeat a 
recent experience which had covered them with glory 
as well as gore. 

“ It's too rough water for me," said Eleanor, “ and I 
never again will look upon the awful murdering of those 
superb creatures, though I would not have missed see- 
ing them as they leap into the air and fight so splen- 
didly for their lives — for anything." 

“ Nor I," said Elizabeth. Christine declared herself 
unfit to do anything but “sit still and be amused." 

“Very well, dearie. Come out on the east veranda. 
It’s deliciously cool and shady there. You and Eliza- 
beth can work, if you like, and I will read aloud. I 
am glad to have the opportunity, for here is something 
that the Commodore sent up for us, about Key West. 
It seems a pity not to go down there when we are so 
near. Every time I see the steamer come in, I think 
we must surely go." 

“And to Nassau, too," said Elizabeth. “I heard a 
party that went last week talking about it. One of the 
girls told me it was a delightful trip and well worth 
twice the time and effort it requires." 

“I’ve no doubt," acquiesced Eleanor; “but I think 
Key West should come first, it being in our own country 
At any rate let’s hear what this writer says about it. 
Good-bye, Philip dear, I hope you will enjoy your fish- 
ing. Now for a cosy hour by ourselves. This article 
was written several years ago, so we must make allow- 
ance. " 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


209 


( 


CHAPTER XXII. 

CAYO HUESO. 

“ Enfolded in its robes of restless, rustling sheen.” 

The Gulf Stream was dashing by us — so strangely, 
fascinatingly blue, when the cry “Key West!” drew 
all eyes to the dazzling sea-girt city. 

There it lay, like an oblong pearl set in opals and 
emeralds. 

Even Byron’s muse lagged far behind this reality 
when, gloating over the glories of Italian coloring he 
wrote : 

“ Filled with the face of heaven which from afar 
Comes down upon the waters ; all its hues, 

From the rich sunset to the rising star 
Their magical variety diffuse ; 

And now they change : a paler shadow strews 
Its mantle o’er the mountain; parting day 
Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues 
With a new color, as it gasps away, 

The last still loveliest, till — ’tis gone — and all is gray.” 

Through the jewelled death of day, into that sudden 
gray of sleep-land our good ship bore us, past the silent 
fort, past the government houses, until we touched the 
shore of the largest, the least known, and the least ap- 
preciated city of the Land of Flowers, 

14 


210 


AN EAST FLOE/DA ROMANCE. 


What a chattering and rushing broke upon us, like a 
sudden swarming of excited birds, leader-lost and dis- 
trait ! 

African density of perception, Cuban variety of shift- 
lessness, Conch indifference and native laziness climax 
themselves, individually and collectively, on the arrival 
of a steamer at the Key West wharf. 

The primary puzzle was how the gang-plank ever 
could be safely placed under existing circumstances. 

To every active available man on shore stood, 
lounged, lay and stared, at least a dozen tatterdemal- 
ions of the most pronounced type, from atoms of human- 
ity hardly out of arms to shrivelled age, each alike armed 
with the universal local emblem, a cigar. 

The waiting Cubans crowded the outer edge of the 
wharf, shrilly welcoming their friends on board, who, 
In turn, shrilled back their queer, broken-backed 
Spanish acknowledgments, accompanied by violent 
gesticulations and facial demonstrations. 

Nothing more abjectly wretched than those Cuban 
voyagers ever paid tribute to the tyrant mal-de-mer , 
and nothing more artificially and defiantly brilliant in 
complexion and costume ever turned backs upon their 
sufferings, and, with ecstasy in every movement, 
stepped upon terra firma at the first possible moment. 
Indeed, they hardly waited for the gang plank to 
establish a secure hold for either terminus before flying 
to meet the beloved “ Juans, ” “Marias,” “Joses” and 
“Ignacios,” who met them more than half-way, in 
midair, and completed a blockade that threatened 
danger to all involved. 

Through the uncertain dusk, artificial lights began to 
send opposing rays across the unfamiliar scene, reveal- 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 2 1 1 

ing the low shops, larger warehouses and curious in- 
teriors that happened in their path. 

Our captain, intent upon his ship and all its respon- 
sibilities, seemed Argus-eyed, and out of all the con- 
fusion brought a safe and comfortable landing of our 
party, to say nothing of our goods and chattels, with 
as cordial words of parting as though we had not been 
the daily torments of his life for ninety-two hours. 

Talk about the patience of Moses ! It shrinks into 
positive insignificance when compared with the heroic 
endurance and unwearoutable courtesy of our captain, 
who met the flood of inane questions consequent upon 
an attendance of scores of landlubbers with the smile 
of an angel and the wisdom of a Solomon. 

“You will not find much to interest you in Key West, 
I am afraid,” he said, as he bowed us down the side of 
the steamer. 

:f: sft Jfc Jf: sfs 

It was regarded as going directly in the face of 
Providence, I believe — this determination of ours to 
get at the “true inwardness” of a place that every- 
body had a bad word for; but we started at an im- 
mense advantage. We had a welcome awaiting us 
and a pleasant foothold promised us among the “ lead- 
ing families,” nor did we have to pause for the lack of 
either an unnecessary moment. 

No sooner were we safely on land than warm South- 
ern greetings allayed our strangeness and dispelled the 
dangers of our ignorance. It did not in the least mat- 
ter that we were only “friends of friends” of our host 
and hostess, with no other claim upon their hospitality 
than an introduction by letter. From the moment of our 


2 1 2 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 

meeting until that of our regretful departure we became 
the objects of unremitting devotion and delicate atten- 
tion, which would have made a wilderness blossom 
as a rose, and which changed our self-imposed task 
of local investigation into days of delight. 

But let us be just before we are even generous. To 
the newly-arrived, hotel-bound stranger the brief 
glimpse of Key West likely to be his between the depart- 
ure of the New York and the arrival of the Tampa steam- 
er is depressing. Instead of arriving at sundown, after 
the glare of the day has quite passed and the evening 
seabreezes have taken possession of the heated streets, 
he generally finds himself suddenly dropped into the 
midst of a motley collection of broken-down carriages, 
whose single horses seem to share the fatigue and 
indifference of their shabby drivers. 

He looks up and down long, flat streets, whose old- 
time shade trees fell into ashes in the great fire of six 
years ago, and experiences for the first time the direct 
rays of a tropical sun that resolve all his energies into 
one absorbing desire for shadow and rest. 

No friendly hand or word guides his footsteps to any 
of the cool, roomy houses where such luxuries can be 
had for the paying. No timely advice suggests a walk 
‘‘just around the corner” to one of several hotels where 
questions can be answered. 

The “cabbies” eye him with designing noncha- 
lance, and he feels a sort of gratitude to the only one 
who is energetic enough to meet him, take his luggage 
in charge — as well as himself — and finally deposit both 
at the door of the “biggest hotel in town, sar.” 

To be sure, his charges are just four times too high, 
and the short distance has been a Via Dolorosa that 


AN- EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


213 

threatened with every step a fractured back or a dislo- 
cated knee. The vehicle, too, seemed a probable trap 
for all known dirt and disease incidental to heat and 
thriftlessness. Key West streets, during the dry season, 
are horrors of alternating sand and rock, and, after a 
rain, are only less horrible to those who prefer damp 
unpleasantness to stifling dust. 

The Key West Boniface, however, stands ready to 
comfort and mitigate such introductory trials and then 
comes the turning points of the traveler’s experience. If 
he is philosophic enough to keep out of the streets until 
they lie in shadow, in the meantime taking his obser- 
vations from a breezy veranda, or as the Key-Westers 
call it, gallery, enough will pass under his eye both to 
interest and instruct him. 

But if he succumbs at once to the unquestionable 
lack of many Northern comforts, and will not accept 
any substitutions, it is well for him (not to speak 
of others ) that his stay should be short. 

For ourselves, we slept the sleep of the contented on 
that first night, but not until after we had listened 
to something like — judging from the noise— seventy-five 
thousand roosters, whose clarion tones must be heard 
afar out at sea, and who never fail to usher in the 
eleventh hour. They crow with appalling vigor for 
about fifteen minutes — a vigor that outdoes even the 
“jingle car” as it clashes along the streets on its last 
trip of the evening. 

It seemed no more than five too-fleeting moments 
after that closing feature of our first day before we were 
again recalled to consciousness by a voice that Salvini 
would have raved over. A peep through the blinds 
revealed a stalwart African, whose iron-gray hair alone 


214 


AM EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


evidenced over maturity. He was pushing before 
him a large wheelbarrow filled with fish, and called 
aloud at brief intervals, with inspiring cheerfulness and 
unction: “Fresh! Fresh! Fresh! Nice fresh sailed 
fish! Rabirubias!” (Spanish mackerel) “Nice! 
Nice! Nice! Fresh! Fresh! Fresh! Groupers!” 

As he strode along, he would vary his announce- 
ments, as follows : “Nice, splendid rabirubias ! Nice, 
frest salted groupers ! Fresh ! Fresh ! Fresh ! ” 

We could not understand the long word until it was 
translated, but it paid to catch that early-dawn glimpse 
of the handsome old Cuban darky, and to breathe that 
sweet, early breath of day ; and nothing loath were we 
to accept our host’s invitation, a few days later, to go 
to early market. 

It was difficult to awaken, and still more difficult to 
keep awake, at four o’clock in the morning ; but, once 
out in the freshness of daybreak, we felt as if treading 
on air. 

We Northerners never experience the intoxication of 
bare existence, as it is felt under Southern skies. 

The atmosphere was like laughing gas — filling one 
with childlike mirth and irresponsible glee. 

The sky and sea reflected each other, careless of 
rivalry, and the night-cooled earth and trees gave forth 
a subtle, charming fragrance. (“ Oh ! doesn’t it sound 
enticing, girls ? ”) 

We went into a coffee-house and wondered at the 
perfection of true democracy there illustrated. In one 
corner sat two negroes ; in another, a quartette of sun- 
burned spongers ; next them the son of a millionaire 
and a famous contractor were in earnest conversation 
with a newspaper man and a navy officer ; in a third 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


2I 5 

corner, but a few feet beyond, was an ex-sheriff and 
party of sightseers. 

The floor was uncovered and unpainted, as were 
the tables, but both were as immaculate as scrubbing 
could make them. 

The coffee was superb, and — oh ! shades of our New 
England ancestors ! — so were the doughnuts we ate 
with it. 

Everybody looked comfortable, and such miseries as 
scorching heat, fatigue, insects and hubbub seemed 
unknown quantities. 

On the blue waters of the harbor lay at anchor 
several of the aristocratic white squadron — the York- 
town, Atlanta, Chicago and Boston. A fleet of fishing 
boats lined the wharves, having paid their daily fees 
of fifteen cents, and so become temporary proprietors 
of their positions. 

We inspected many of them, as they cleaned their 
stock and sold them to the street venders, among whom 
was our bell-toned monger already referred to. 

The boats often belong to some man in town who 
lets them '‘on shares/’ allowing $2.50 a week per 
boat to two fishermen for rations, and taking one third 
of the catch in payment. 

The display of dressed fish, ready for cooking, at the 
morning market, is hardly to be equaled anywhere, 
and the character studies that meet one at every turn 
are worthy of a special article. 

While listening to an energetic bargain between a 
fisherman and a fish-vender, a weather-beaten old dory 
appeared around a small schooner and our astonished 
eyes beheld a speck of a darky boy not more than six 
years old, sitting in the stern with the end of an old 


2l6 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


cigar in the corner of his mouth at which he was puff- 
ing with the air of a veteran smoker. In his right hand 
he held a stick about two feet long and six inches wide, 
that he was using as a paddle, having found the 
legitimate pole too massive for his tiny hands to wield. 

As he passed the schooner, one of the men laugh- 
ingly called to him to lend them a hand at hauling 
some pineapple crates on to the deck. 

He at once removed the cigar stump with an ex- 
perienced air, and answered, with a convulsing dignity : 
“ D' I look like I'se er ’ or set ” 

In strolling home, after a two hours’ experience as 
varied as it was novel, we stopped to inhale the fra- 
grance and note the abundance of pineapples that 
were being shipped North. They are not raised on the 
Island of Key West, but on the keys along the coast 
and on the West Indian Islands, the Porto Rico pines 
being immense in size and delicious in flavor. 

When nearly at our walk’s end a strangely touching 
picture arrested our footsteps, as we inadvertently 
glanced through the open door of a small Cuban home. 

The room was not more than ten feet square, un- 
carpeted, unpainted, and more like a shanty than a 
house. At the further corner from the door, and in 
plain sight of every passer-by — as though inviting in- 
spection — was a shrine of linen and lace — coarse, but 
white as drifted snow, and trimmed with natural 
flowers. 

On the lounge beneath it, which was also covered 
with white and decorated with flowers, lay what 
looked exactly like a waxen doll, dressed in white, 
flower-crowned, and covered with a lace veil. 

Its little hands were clasped upon the motionless 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 217 

breast, and the great black eyes were half open, as if 
just yielding to gentle slumber. 

Before the lounge on the floor was placed a white 
linen sheet, on which stood four burning candles, a 



“ Its little hands were clasped.” 


lamp and more flowers. A few chairs stood against 
the wall, and the morning sunlight fell across the rough 
floor and upon the edge of the candle-lighted shrine. 
Apparently the dead baby lay unguarded. 

Instinctively we turned away, fearful of intruding, 


2l8 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


but were assured that the Cuban parents desired the 
public to look upon their child before it was put in the 
tiny white coffin that stood at its head. 

On stepping into the room, the father came to meet 
us. He looked like a boy, and when we asked him if 
he would like a picture of the little one he clasped his 
hands eloquently and tried to make us understand that 
he wanted one “so much,” but all his money had 
gone for the bridal dress and veil and coffin of his baby. 

It was a sad pleasure to arrange for the photograph- 
ing of the little form, and pathetic to witness the grati- 
tude of the young father and mother, when, a few 
days later, they w r ere given several of the prints. 

The Cuban heart is tender, and possessed by no 
prudential inclinations except in connection with their 
superstitions. 

On the death of a member of the family, the corpse 
is enshrined for a few hours. If it is an unmarried 
female, whether infant, child, young or old woman, it 
is clothed as a bride — the bride of death — -and often is 
placed in a sitting posture, with open, staring eyes. 

Directly after death all articles of the deceased’s 
wearing apparel, and whatever has been used in the 
last illness, is burned or otherwise destroyed, and after 
the burial the family desert the house of death and find 
a new home. 

This custom would impoverish a less lightly burdened 
householder than the ordinary Key West cigarmaker, 
but means little more to him than stepping into a 
neighboring street and two empty rooms, with his 
possessions in his arms, and no outside assistance in- 
volved or needed beyond his active family. 

They are creatures of the hour. When the cigar 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


219 

factories are all running, and wages are high, the 
women deck themselves in silks and satins, laces and 
cheap jewelry. They eat and drink, and smoke and 
chatter, completely satisfied with the plenty of the 
moment, and ripe for any extravagance. The men 
appear in white linen suits and flaming ties, with their 
small feet incased in high-heeled boots, and bright 
sashes about their waists. Out of work, however, they 
gather in the coffeeshops and play cards, or disappear 
into worse and more retired haunts, where play and 
excitement run high. Cock-fighting is a Sunday 
pastime, and riding Mexican horses in John Gilpin 
fashion a common sight on Sunday afternoons. As re- 
gards their family relations, the men are jealous hus- 
bands, devoted fathers, and most patient and romantic 
lovers. The women are simple in their wants, indus- 
trious, and, until married, never unguarded. 

One of our greatest delights was to take the horse- 
cars about half-past seven o'clock, and ride through 
the Cuban quarters just as the festivities were begin- 
ing. 

Often would we find ourselves in the midst of sights 
and sounds as unfamiliar and as puzzling as though 
we had been dropped, by magic, into Cuba or Spain. 

The car drivers and conductors are Cubans, the 
former seldom speaking or understanding English at 
all, while the latter carry their linguistic accomplish- 
ments only far enough to know when to stop the car 
in response to an English request, and how to shout 
“All right ! ” 

Often our fellow-passengers were entirely from the 
Cuban population ; the women plainly dressed, with- 
out head coverings and gloves, while their daughters 


220 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


wore something marvelous to behold, in the amplitude 
and befeathered splendor of their white hats, the 
ghastliness of their powdered faces as contrasted with 
their wonderfully beautiful dark eyes and sweeping 
lashes, their carmine touched cheeks and lips, and the 
vari-colored toilettes so dear to their hearts. 

These Cuban girls are as coy and coquettish as ever 
girls can be. When a man of their race is inspired to 
woo a maiden his methods are as un-American as they 
can be, also. 

Instead of calling upon her, he spends days, weeks 
and perhaps months in haunting the immediate vicinity 
of her home. He paces back and forth on the opposite 
side of the street, sits at the door of a convenient coffee- 
house, stoops or leans against a neighboring tree, from 
whence he can command the comings and goings of 
his inamorata. If she, perceiving him, deigns such 
encouragement as covert smiles, nods, and lingering 
glances, between times, he finally gains admission to 
her house, and then follows the most open and pro- 
nounced love-making that eloquent eyes, lips and 
heart can express, with a duenna constantly at hand 
to say nothing of an interested public. 

The Cuban houses with few exceptions, are one 
storied and two or three roomed, with narrow piazzas 
running across the front and wooden shutters at the 
windows. 

The poorer Cubans content themselves with Japanese 
simplicity as to furniture except as regards rocking- 
chairs. A rocking-chair is to Key-Westers in general 
and Cubans in particular a necessity second only to 
food. They can be comfortable and happy in sleeping 
on the floor, eating off laps or cooking out of doors, 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


22 1 


but when work is done for the day and the hour 
arrives for white muslin dresses, bright ribbons, gay 
flowers and lovers, my lady must have her rocker, el 
madre must have hers, Don Juan his, and whoever else 
is stupid enough to intrude must also rock, rock, rock — 
until the duenna gets too sleepy to mount guard 
another moment. Then the adios are said, Don Juan 
swears by the stars above and the eyes of his love 
that life will be a blank until he again resumes his 
“ rock ” ; the Senorita gives his hand a gentle pressure 
that sends him off in a seventh heaven of rapture, and 
the wooden shutters bar him out into the fragrant night. 

We learned to look for two favorite sets of lovers as 
we passed their houses in the horse-cars, and must 
always hope that their romance lived and grew into 
something as delightful as the incipient stage promised. 

They always sat side by side directly opposite the 
open door, with their chairs against the wall and the 
light from the hanging-lamp full upon them. The 
elderly person officiating as duenna sat a few paces 
away ; the cars, with their crowds, passed and repassed ; 
men and women, lazily lounged back and forth on the 
sidewalk, and anyone that liked looked in upon those 
lovers, but it seemed to make no difference to them. 
They billed and cooed into each other’s happy young 
faces as radiantly and unreservedly as though the 
tropical moonlight alone could behold their bliss, and 
on a particularly propitious occasion, when guests 
screened one couple from their chaperon, we were 
charmed to see the rash youth steal a kiss, that was 
as rashly and as quickly returned. 

After all, youth and love are much the same the 
world over. 


222 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


The latter defies the ever-vigilant duennas who hover 
over the pretty Cuban girls, quite as successfully as 
further north. 

He laughs at bolts and bars; 

At guards and locks and keys. 

This naughty elf ignores papas, 

And flies, mammas to tease. 

A good-looking young American was sight-seeing in 
Havana not long ago and, chancing to spy a pair of 
lovely eyes looking not unkindly upon him from a 
grated casement, doffed his hat and smiled his ap- 
preciation of their gentleness. He was instantly re- 
warded with an airy kiss thrown from the tips of 
slender brown fingers, and as instantly horrified by 
the appearance upon the scene of an ugly old dame 
who administered a sharp slap to her impetuous charge 
and pulled her out of sight. 

It is pleasant to chronicle the fact that our Key 
West lovers were not caught. 

There are a few Cuban families of large wealth who 
have adjusted themselves more or less to American 
methods and who take a prominent part in local interests. 
The great cigar manufacturer Gato is the most prom- 
inent among them and owns street after street of houses 
where his men and women workers live, with the 
children too young to work and the boys and girls 
from ten years old upward, who often are initiated 
into the family occupation long before they should 
leave school. 

The Cubans have schools, but education is not com- 
pulsory, and from all we could gather, the intellectual 
and artistic status of that portion of the Key "West 
population is not a subject to become ecstatic upon. 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


22 3 


The four distinct grades of citizens may be designated 
as Natives, Whites, Conchs, Cubans, and Negroes. 

The first comprise all white residents exclusive of 
those coming from the Bahamas, and include repre- 
sentatives of all parts of this country and also of many 
others. 

I was surprised to discover upon numbers of the old 
grave-stones in the cemetery, the names of Connecticut 
men, particularly Mystic men. 

The widow of one of them, a well-known resident of 
more than seventy years of age, was lingering over 
the resting-place of her departed spouse, and proved a 
treasury of information. 

“There’s Mrs. ’s husband over there. She’s 

put a load of sand on him,” she said, with a doubtful 
inflection in her voice and a like expression on her face. 

Whether the doubt was connected with her neigh- 
bor’s sandy tribute or her own lack of similar attention 
to the mound at her feet, remains an open question. 
She told us that in ’42 a Mystic man, becoming im- 
pressed with the number of his comrades that went 
down to Key West and grew rich in wrecking and fish- 
ing, was also impressed with the idea that it was his 
duty, not to say privilege, to go to Key West and open a 
store where these riches could be expended. 

He carried out the plan, made a large fortune, and, 
after death, was buried in the cemetery a few feet from 
where we stood. The curious part of it all was in her 
own words, “There ain’t a single soul of his name 
left on the island to-day.” 

The Conch element is unique. Many of them would 
pass for unadulterated cockneys, but a veritable 
Londoner is quick to assume and defend the superior- 


224 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


ity of his birthright and apt to resent fellowship with 
the partners of his distinctive misapplication of the 
letter h. 

A curious division in families regarding this peculiar- 
ity is often seen in Key West. There are instances of 
several sisters, born and educated in the same atmos- 
phere and continuing to live within short distances of 
each other, who speak English as unlike as though 
some had grown up under Bow Bells and others on 
Southern soil. 

As a class the Conchs exhibit the deliberation and 
conservatism of their English antecedents. This is 
constantly evidenced in the public highways of Key 
West. There are men and women living there to-day 
who prefer the discomfort and danger of neglected 
streets, sand-suffocated lungs and sand-ruined posses- 
sions to easily-gained deliverance from all these unnec- 
essary blots on their fair island. 

“What’s good enough for my father is good enough 
for me,” is the answer to progressive suggestions, and 
in some cases the sentiment is carried so far as to be- 
come a resentment of innovations as impertinent and 
intrusive on the part of Northern or Southern agitators, 
to whom they refuse land, vote, and sympathy. 

Happily the day of old things is passing. As the 
veteran hold-backers die off, their places are taken by 
men who have travelled more and can see the great 
possibilities of their climate, water-ways and coast, and 
already the streets are reconstructed ; electric lights are 
introduced, a fine chime of bells makes sweet music 
from the tower of the Episcopal Church, and a new 
court-house adorns the town. 

Socially, Key West is in a transition state. The 


AN EAST FL OR ID A ROMANCE. 225 

time for universal intermingling and general personal 
intercourse, which existed a few years ago, when the 
place numbered but a few thousand, has passed. It is 
no longer a little town where all one’s friends can 
always be included in an invitation to tea, and the 
courtship and marriage of anybody on the island in- 
volves everybody’s opinion and dictum. Neither is it 
a large enough city to rob either opinion or dictum of 
immense weight for or against the well-being of all 
couples involved. Consequently, there has sprung up 
a temporary lull in social matters, and a definite classi- 
fication of moral, intellectual and spiritual work, in 
private and public schools, societies and churches. 
Most of the large social gatherings, aside from mar- 
riage festivities, are given under the auspices of one or 
the other of these heads, and small “ teas,” “at homes ” 
and dinner parties are rare. 

The wives of the naval officers stationed at Key 
West are shining examples of energetic hospitality, 
and are ably seconded by their husbands. 

When invitations for a picnic at the fort are sent out, 
in honor of incoming Government vessels, Key West 
puts on a new air of brightness and bustle. Fort Tay- 
lor etiquette on such occasions demands nothing more 
than freshness and comfort of costume, and the result 
is apparent in the pretty cambrics and wash dresses 
worn by the women and the ease of the naval guests, 
who fully appreciate an opportunity to dance in the 
cool halls, rest in the deep casements, frolic over the 
delicious viands lavishly set forth, or play tennis on 
the shadowed court. 

The word picnic takes to itself an absolutely new 
and glorified meaning in Fort Taylor, and many a life- 
15 


226 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


romance has grown from the meeting of brave men and 
maidens fair within its peaceful and picturesque walls. 

Public balls, given by the officers of visiting ships, 
resident military organizations and individuals, are 
quite in vogue ; but there is little commingling of the 
Cuban and American elements at these social gather- 
ings, each seemingly preferring its own peculiar place 
of meeting, methods and people. 

The homes of the wealthy Key-Westers are generally 
large, square structures, with upper and lower verandas, 
and a general regard for air and light that at once 
strikes the stranger. 

If only the wicked love darkness, and it be true that 
all loving the light are righteous, there can be no doubt 
about the goodness of nine out of ten of those island- 
ers, for they scorn hangings, screens, window-shades 
or curtains, and trust entirely to the blinds at windows 
and doors and to the netting over their beds for all the 
privacy, shade and protection from flies and musqui- 
toes that they get. 

To be strictly truthful, the exemption from both of 
the latter pests was as unexpected as it was grateful. 

Not until the last of April did we need to unfurl the 
voluminous lace affair at the head of our bed, and 
although we were in Key West until the middle of May, 
at no time were we more inconvenienced by them than 
at most summer resorts in the North. 

But of that little wicked “skipper,” considered quite 
unmentionable north of Mason and Dixon’s line, much 
might be said. That its ways are more devious than 
the “Heathen Chinee” of historic unreliability, and 
altogether past finding out, is a lesson too soon and 
unavoidably learned everywhere in Florida, 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


227 

There is no escape from their erratic investigations, 
and no gainsaying their instantaneous powers of com- 
manding attention. All that can be done in the way 
of relief is easily learned, however, and after a short 
time one becomes hardened even to that tropical plague, 
the elusive flea. 

It is a more than difficult undertaking to put the 
peculiar charm of this curious and unique city on paper. 
One must see the radiance of air and water and sky, to 
approach a realization of its never-failing beauty. 

One must stroll along the queer byways ; note the 
applications and usages of the soft, coarse Conch hat, 
as it adorns a bright-eyed cigarette coquette, eclipses a 
schoolgirl, surmounts a darky or a Conch sponger, or 
is blown back from the face of a street urchin, to say 
nothing of its value as a vegetable, flower or egg 
basket. Then there are the wonderful sponge houses, 
with their specimens of nature’s freaks in unexceptional 
models of hats, old and new, scrap baskets, etc., so true 
to their originals (or, more correctly speaking, dupli- 
cates), that they have to be handled inside and out 
before it is possible to believe that they grew in exactly 
those shapes. 

The cigar factories are another interesting field for 
investigation, from their first bales of Havana leaves 
— each bale containing eighty bunches or carrots of the 
fragrant (?) weed — through the stages of “casing” or 
dampening, stripping the leaf from the stem, classing 
of wrappers and drying of “fillers,” to the fine art 
involved in rolling the result of all these processes into 
cigars and properly packing them for the New York 
houses that sell them. 

We were peculiarly fortunate, again, in our cigar- 


228 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


factory experience. Our kind host acted as guide, 
and so insured for us the courtesy and personal attend- 
ance of one of the partners of the house. Of course 
every door flew open and every secret stood revealed. 
Three facts remain graven upon our memories. First, 
the colors of the finished cigars are as various and un- 
limited in shading as are the greens in foliage ; second, 
the women that work over them grow to look like them, 
in complexion ; and third, the courtesy of one and all 
was only equalled by the generosity of the head of the 
house, who presented us with a fine box of “Rosa 
Espanola,” that certainly intensified the rapture of 
some of our male relatives, on our arrival among them 
a week later. 

As we rode home from that factory a bright blue cart, 
drawn by an old yellow horse and driven by an 
Italian, passed us. The man rung a resonant bell that 
made us think of a New England school, at the end of 
recess, and followed its strident tones with the follow- 
ing declaration, made in a falsetto voice : “ El — ice — 
cream ! El — ice — cream ! El — ice — krumm-m-m ! 
Ice — cream, yellow kind, white kind, red kind, all 
kinds of kind ! ” 

He would stop now and then to rest a moment, or 
to deal out a portion of his cream, but we could hear 
his voice long after he was out of sight. 

The negro confectioner that passed the house every 
morning was his dangerous rival, both professionally 
and musically, and, in a really rich voice, sang much 
the same sentiment, to the following setting : 


A A A A /TV 


Ffe- 

0 0 0 0 



-ig— r . 


/Pry a j i 



i i 



H 

V — v — V — ^ — 

Lb i 1 

_r~i 


El - i-erc-crem, El - i-erc-crem, El - i - ere - crem. 



The Key West Hat, 


530 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

In the afternoons the small boy venders made their 
tours through the chief streets and squares, with their 
home-made candies, etc., displayed upon the paper- 
covered waiters that they carry in front of them sus- 
pended from the shoulders. 

One of them quite eclipsed all the others in effective 
coloring. He was as black as ink — good ink — and 
splendidly made. On his wool was perched a broad- 
brimmed Conch hat, with a band of bright-yellow cot- 
ton cloth ornamenting the few inches of crown still 
adhering to the original article. His cotton shirt-waist 
was blue, and the white strings that served as suspend- 
ers were carefully wound around some variously sized 
buttons that held in place his white duck trousers, from 
the lower ends of which shot his shining black legs. 

His eyes were large and full of fun, and his teeth 
gleamed like polished ivory as he gayly cried : “ Nice, 
fresh, home-made candy ! Peanuts and popcorn ! Roll 
up, tumble up ! Matters not how you get up, so as 
you bring your nickel up ! ” 

These street merchants suffer only slightly more from 
the sand storms that prevail during dry periods than 
the more ambitious and pretentious shop-owners. 

With inexhaustible waters on every side, everybody 
swallows the fine coral dust in their food and their 
drinks, fights it ineffectually in their houses and pays 
tribute to it in marred possessions of every sort. But a 
few yards of hose may be made to triumph over dust. 
The dawn and the late day bring many joys ; the sea 
is always tempting the yachtsman and the fisherman ; 
the gardens blaze with bloom, the nights with moon- 
light or starlight, and the great healing revivifying Sun 
shines ninety-nine days out of a hundred. 




Atf EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 231 

Then Key-Westers are glad to welcome, quick to 
make at home, and flatteringly reluctant to bid good- 
bye to their guests — all of which is beguiling to the 
human heart — so let us join in a toast, 

To the city that’s built on a key : 

To her guests whosoever they be : 

May both join in all ways that are blest, 

Long life, health and fame to Key West 


“ Fine ! ” cried Elizabeth. “ Let's go!" 
“Man proposes — mais.” 




232 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

“called back.” 

“ Nothing can stay and nothing can bind.” 

“A telegram for Mr. Maxwell ! ” 

“All right. Wait a moment/’ answered Philip’s 
voice. The girls heard it from their rooms across the 
hall, and Elizabeth expressed a wish that “people 
would not roar so at six o’clock in the morning,” and 
composed herself again to the sweet, semi-awake 
dreams of a luxuriously-nested and happy girlhood. 

Christine had been awake a long time. She won- 
dered what the telegram was about. Philip was always 
getting telegrams to meet men somewhere. Perhaps 
he was called away now, and if he was she wondered 
if her sister would go too, and take Elizabeth and her- 
self. 

Did she wish to go ? It had been a delightful trip so 
far, and every place had seemed sufficiently enjoyable 
to make leaving it an effort. New York would be dirty, 
and cold, and horrid. She knew her father would not 
wish her to go home yet : and John Bartlett never 
would let his mother go, not for another month, at 
least. Then she fell to thinking about his devotion to 
his mother. Her eyes grew soft and dewy and her 
heart beat faster as she recalled the many tender, sweet 
pictures she had seen of the mother and son. Eliza- 
beth’s face, too, came into the pictures, and there 


A}/ EAST FLORIDA ROMAtfCb. 


*33 

always seemed to be something subtle and close 
between the two women that Christine recognized but 
could not account for. To be sure they thought and 
felt alike on many subjects. Both were charitable, 
both were self-forgetful, and, perhaps more than all 
the rest, both the elder and younger woman was de- 
voted to “John.” At this thought Christine flushed, 
and gave her pillows vigorous little pinches. Yes ! 
she had made up her mind that Elizabeth was very fond 
of John Bartlett, and one way of proving it was Eliza- 
beth’s constant consideration of his mother’s comfort 
and pleasure. ‘ ‘ She waits on her as if she were her own 
child, and always is carrying her flowers and books 
and things : of course she likes her, anyway. She is 
so sweet and dear that everybody does ! ” and here the 
thought seemed to yield to a sudden burst of tears, for 
Christine’s face buried itself in both her hands, and if 
Elizabeth, in the next room, had not been so preoccu- 
pied, she would have heard the sobs that seemed to 
threaten serious results, for a while. 

‘ ‘ I'm a silly baby, ” at last thought Christine. ‘ 1 1 will 
dress and ” 

“ Christine dear, let me in ! ” It was Eleanor’s voice. 
“Just think of it, child, Philip has to go North to- 
morrow. The contract he has been trying to get for 
two years has at last been given him, and the poor dear 
boy is so pleased ! but it spoils all this fun for him, and 
half mine.” 

Christine’s head was in the wash-bowl : after open- 
ing the door, she had hastily but firmly placed it there, 
for good and sufficient reasons, and by the time the dry- 
ing process was completed her naturally rich complex- 
ion presented about its usual appearance. 


234 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


‘‘It’s provoking! Why couldn’t they have waited 
until we got home ! Must we go too ? ” 

“Philip thinks we better go with him as far as 
St. Augustine, for he will bethereafew days, closingup 
some other matters, and could see us all nicely settled 
in our old rooms. The worst of it is we simply cannot 
go to Key West or Nassau, this time, and Philip will 
have to give up the West Coast trip ; but we’ve had a 
glorious time, haven't we, darling? Now, tell Beth, for 
I must get dressed for breakfast. It will be a busy day, 
getting packed and saying good-bye to the people 
about here, who have been so nice to us. Oh, I won- 
der what Mrs. Bartlett will think about going with us ; 
and the men, — won’t they be sorry to have the party 
broken up ? Hurry, Beth dear. Breakfast in half an 
hour.” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


2 35 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

REVELATIONS. 

“ I cannot understand ; I love.” 

As the sisters and Philip once more came in sight of 
the Ponce de Leon, the next evening, and again en- 
tered the now familiar porle cochere , Elizabeth broke 
the silence that had prevailed all through the drive from 
the station. 



“It seems a month since we went away, doesn’t it ? 
We have seen and done so much.” 

“ It is hardly two weeks,” said Eleanor. 

“Christine, are you tired? You have scarcely 


236 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 

spoken to-day, and look as though your thoughts were 
far away,” remarked Philip, with a meaning smile that 
Eleanor promptly but furtively rebuked. 

“ I am sure we all enjoy the opportunity to be quiet 
for a little while. The journey has been a real rest to 
me. Of course we miss our friends and will be glad 
to see them again, but, in the mean time, let us take a 
little interval of domestic relaxation,” she said. 

Everything was ready for them in the familiar rooms, 
and Elizabeth’s voice exultantly cried, from the girls’ 
parlor, “Oh, come and see these roses ! the room is 
full of their fragrance. Ain’t they delicious ? Here is a 
telegram — ‘ Welcome them blossoms, and be grateful. 
Your gain is our loss. J. B.” 

Christine looked over Elizabeth’s shoulder and read 
the message. 

“It is just like Mr. Bartlett!” and her own roses 
deepened to scarlet. 

“ How nice of him ! ” said Elizabeth. “ Put one on, 
Tiny.” 

But Christine declined. Elizabeth thought she 
seemed annoyed. 

A vague constraint existed between the sisters, for the 
first time in their lives. Elizabeth felt it, but was ut- 
terly ignorant of its cause. Christine fought against it, 
blamed herself for it, and assumed an exaggerated 
gayety that made Eleanor wonder. 

“Philip dear, I can’t make Tiny out at all, and I’m 
sure I don’t know whether John Bartlett loves her or 
Elizabeth. As for Harold Frisby — he certainly is in- 
fatuated with Tiny, but do you know I do not quite 
trust that man, and I hope he has not seriously interested 
Tiny. What a dreadful responsibility girls are ! ” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


2 37 


“Don’t worry, little woman. It doesn’t help 
matters, and both Beth and Tiny are too sensible to 
make any rash decisions. As for John Bartlett, I 
would rather give him a sister of mine than any man 
I know — but, confound it all, what’s the hurry about 
anybody’s marrying them, yet. They are only just 
old enough to begin to enjoy themselves.” 

“ Why, Philip ! ” 

“Now what have I done ?” cried Philip regarding 
with dismay his wife’s quivering lips and hurt look. 

“Did. you stop enjoying yourself when you fell in 
love ? Did you think all your happiness was cut off 
-when you married? ” Here she pulled herself together 
and took possession of the big fellow, twining her arms 
about his neck and cooing into his hair until, by de- 
grees, she regained her usual happy calm, and released 
him with a push as she said, “ I’m an old goose ever 
o misunderstand you, you great blundering lovely 
thing. It’s because we are so happy that I am anxious 
for my dear sisters, both of them. Now I’ll make a 
prophecy, but promise, Philip, that you will not look, or 
speak, or hint what it is, until I tell you to. Do you 
promise ? Very well ! I think that both of the girls are 
in love, and that neither of them realize it. I think 
that Elizabeth has one lover, and Christine has two, and 
I think they all are playing at cross-purposes.” 

“By Jove! What a woman you are!” exclaimed 
her husband, admiringly, as well as perplexedly. Pie 
shook his head slowly, thinking over it all, and then 
added, “It’s too much for me. I leave everything to 
you, Nell. I suppose we might as well go over to the 
Casino this evening, and see what is going on.” 

* * * * * HF 



Adown the Northern Loggia. 




AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


2 39 


Just before dinner the next day, Philip and Eleanor 
were having a leisurely stroll on the front balcony, 
while the girls were off at a fort-party. Philip was to 
go early the next morning and the moments together 
were precious. Suddenly Eleanor stopped and pointed 
across the court. 



“ What did I tell you ? ” 


“ What did I tell you ? ” 

Entering the main entrance were two men appar- 
ently just in from the southern train. 

They were Avery Arnold and Harold Frisby. 



240 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE . 


“If John Bartlett has not come it is because his 
mother is not able to take the journey, yet,” said 
Eleanor. “I do wish you could stay longer, Philip, 
if only one more day. I feel as if something was going 
to happen.” 

He soothed her ; put her on her mettle by saying, 
“Nothing ever downs you, Nell,” but declared he 
must go the next morning. 


The day had been a happy one. 

In the morning they had made a long run across the 
bridge, up the beach, and back by the road. The Com- 
missioner and his wife, with an extra man, introduced 
the evening before, had joined them, and just as they 
reached a pretty bit of hammock, Elizabeth insisted upon 
perpetuating them, Philip and Eleanor posed on one 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


241 


side of the path and the other four in the middle of it. 
The picture was a success, and Elizabeth promised to 
send her brother one. 

In the afternoon she fulfilled a promise made before 
they went down the coast to sing in the Memorial 
Church. 

A number of invitations had been sent out for three 
o’clock, and before that hour the body of the church 
was well filled. Christine and the morning acquaint- 
ance — a New York man named Reginald Sanford — sat 
together near the door. 

“I always feel excited and nervous when Beth 
sings,” Christine had said, “and hate to sit where 
people can watch me.” 

“Miss Hunter does not look like one who ever would 
break down,” Sanford had remarked — thinking at the 
same time that the sisters were wonderfully unlike in 
looks at any rate. 

“Break down ! She breaks everybody up. Wait 
until you hear her.” 

Eleanor and Philip were just in front of them. Philip 
turned around and laughed at her. “ You see we do not 
mind showing our appreciation of our sister,” he said, 
nodding affectionately at Christine, but speaking to her 
companion. 

“What is it about this church that is so unusual and 
impressive ? ” queried Sanford, gazing up at the lofty 
central dome and the great side arches. 

“ Elizabeth is the artistic one in our family and she 
says it is the unity of three features — superb lines, 
solidity, and the sharp contrast between the pure white 
walls and the rich mahogany finish. We have been 
told that the original plan was to finish the walls in 


242 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


rich colors, but some artist visited the church before 
they began to fresco it, and through his influence it was 
left in its present purity. It is like an immense calla 
lily — don’t you think? ” 

“I can’t be sure which I would prefer, the absence 
or presence of rich color, but this is stately and churchly, 
to my eye. Where will Miss Hunter stand when she 
sings ? ” 

“Back of that screen. You can’t see her. That is 
what she thinks just perfect — to sing without seeing or 
being seen. She says it is the only artistic, impersonal 
way, particularly for sacred music, to be inspiring.” 

Just then the organist opened a pianissimo theme 
that hushed all conversation. Every one look toward 
the choir gallery, as though expecting to pierce the 
massive mahogany, while the theme developed into 
Panofka’s “O Salutaris.” 

Throb, throb, throb — each chord working up to the 
voice entrance — “O Salutaris — hostia ” 

No one stirred. The pure devotional tones alone 
vied with the undercurrent of close harmony that the 
accompanist kept, firmly and smoothly, in abeyance. 

Now the singer seemed the expression of humility 
and supplication. Then the exaltation of faith and 
hope soared higher and higher, until every corner of 
the great aisles vibrated with the climax, “ Os-ti-um,” 
and the theme died away, reverentially, in the fervent 
“ Amen, Amen.” 

No one moved, until the last note of the organ was 
silenced. Then Christine looked at her friends. They 
seemed unwilling to risk any greater demonstration 
than pantomime, but eyes, gestures, conveyed vol- 
ume§. 



“ Stately and churchly.” 



544 


AN EAST FLO kin A ROMANCE. 


For an hour Elizabeth sang. If they could have seen 
her ! — clasped hands, eyes fixed upon the white dome 
above her, and her figure swaying to and fro, she gave 
full sway to the passion of music within her. It was so 
delicious to be, in a sense alone, with the great organ 
and the sympathetic organist. Not once did she remem- 
ber anything else, after her voice measured the audito- 
rium. When she came down the choir stairs and met the 
waiting friends her eyes shone like stars and her cheeks 
like “jack ” roses. 

Congratulations and thanks were showered upon her, 
but she hardly realized anything. Excusing herself as 
quickly as possible, she went to the hotel and locked 
herself into her room. Everybody had gone to a re- 
ception. Her head ached and she was grateful to it for 
furnishing an excuse. It did not matter about such an 
ache, but the unrest and sense of goneness that seemed 
to haunt her : what did they mean ? 

St. Augustine was just as enchanting as ever. 
People were just as attentive. Philip was going away 
and she would miss him awfully, but that was no 
sufficient cause for the strange new weariness. She 
wondered what was going on at Miami then, and drifted 
off into memories that finally lapsed into dreamland. 
****** 

“ Beth, are you asleep ? ” 

It was Christine, and her watch said six o’clock. 
The reception had been “awfully jolly” and at the 
dinner-table everybody was in their gayest mood. 

The waiter asked Philip some question. The latter 
answered, “Certainly” and looked around; then got 
up and welcomed Arnold and Frisby. 

“ Mrs. Maxwell and I spied you in the court an hour 


AN EAST FlOk/kA kOMANCE. 245 

ago. Glad to see you. Where are the Bartletts ? Sit 
down, your old places are awaiting you.” 

Elizabeth’s reception was cordial, but to her own 
amazement, she nearly dropped her glass to the floor. 

The music seemed suddenly to dominate everything, 
and all she thought was — “Here” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


246 


CHAPTER XXX. 

EXODUS. 

“ How dull it is to pause — to make an end.” 

There were many bright days closely following 
Philip’s departure, and many demands for every hour 
in them. 

Eleanor enjoyed seeing her sisters enter into all the 
gayety, but, she confessed to homesickness. “ Philip 
spoils me so. I'm good for nothing without him.” 

It was pleasant to get Mrs. Bartlett back again and. 
everybody seemed at least quiescent. 

In a cosy corner on the second floor, over the front 
entrance of the Ponce-de-Leon, Elizabeth often sat 
after dinner, for the sake of hearing the music, and 
generally drew a circle of other music-lovers about 
her. The house was crowded, and friends were con- 
stantly meeting unexpectedly. 

One night Elizabeth and Christine were comfortably 
settled for their usual post-prandial enjoyment. Mrs. 
Bartlett and Eleanor were near by and the latter was 
talking with John Bartlett, when a messenger brought 
her a telegram. It was from Philip. 

“Am called to London next Monday. Can't you 
come home on ‘Comanche,’ Clyde Line, from Jackson- 
ville? Sails on Thursday. Leave Christine with Mrs. 
Bartlett. Have written.” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 247 

“ What in the world, is the matter, Eleanor? ” asked 
Elizabeth, who had watched her sister’s face. 

“Philip is going to London next Monday and wants 
me to go home. Of course I shall go, but ” 

‘ 4 Do leave the girls with me, ” said Mrs. Bartlett. * ‘ I 
know Dr. Hunter wished Christine to stay through next 
month.” 

They went to their parlor and discussed the question, 



finally deciding to accept Mrs. Bartlett’s invitation. 
Elizabeth seemed perfectly content to go. It was only 
a matter of a few weeks, and her work at the League 
would occupy her. Beside that, Eleanor must not go 
alone. Philip depended on her, she knew. 

' ‘ Will you stroll with me in the court for a few 
moments, Miss Christine ? ” asked Frisby, when they 
" returned to the alcove. “ The music is a trifle mono- 
tonous and the evening is warm.” 



2 48 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

They passed down the stairway and were accident- 
ally separated a moment by the crowd in the rotunda, 
Christine, Elizabeth, and Avery Arnold standing on the 
lower step, while Frisby started ahead, when a jovial 



“ A cosy corner.” 


voice cried, “ Hullo, old man ! where did you drop 
from ? Is Mrs. Frisby with you ? ” 

The words rang clear and vibrant, as the speaker 
brought his hand on Frisby’s shoulder with a thud that 
would have floored a less muscular man, but seemed 
to be unfelt. 

The astonished girls wondered how such a mistake 



A AT EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


249 

could have been made, and why some people liked to 
attract attention. 

Frisby’s face paled and flushed : for an instant he 
seemed to hesitate about returning the salutation in 
any way, but the newcomer, perceiving Arnold, ex- 
tended his hand as to an old friend and, ignoring or 
not seeing that the men were accompanied by ladies, 
turned and joined them. 

Accepting the inevitable, Harold Frisby struck one 
of his most fetching attitudes and smilingly said, 
“Colonel James! how do you do? Excuse us just 
now. We will find you later ; have an engagement ; ” 
and standing back so that Christine and Elizabeth 
could pass, he followed them to the court. 

“Arnold will escape from that lunatic and join us in 
a moment. There he is now.” 

Elizabeth thought Avery Arnold looked stern. Chris- 
tine only noticed what he said. “Harold, you will 
have to do the right thing by Colonel James by-and-by. 
He is your mother’s oldest friend, if he is a bore.” 

Frisby talked little. The four friends sauntered 
through the brilliantly lighted court and across the 
Alcaza Park, making the circuit of Plaza sea-wall and 
back by the old cathedral. 

Everybody looked picturesque in the stong light, 
and beyond the surf pounded on the white trailing 
beach. 

The next morning Arnold came in to the breakfast- 
table alone and told them that the colonel had carried 
off Frisby early that morning, leaving him to explain 
his hurried and most unwilling departure. He found 
out, after you went upstairs, that a business telegram 
had come for him, and there was nothing for it but the 


250 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


morning train north. He had to stop in Jacksonville, 
too, so it had to be a very early train. Mrs. Maxwell, 
may I have the pleasure of going with you and Miss 
Hunter, on the ‘Comanche?’ I have promised to join 
Frisby next week and go over to London for a few 
months, and it will be a delight to be with you until 
then.” 

Elizabeth’s heart was going like a trip-hammer. 
She did not dare raise her eyes or trust her voice and 
had recourse to strategy, dropping her handkerchief 
so adroitly that no one was quick enough to save her 
temporary search which restored more than the dainty 
cobweb. 

“What a perfect godsend ! ” cried Eleanor. “ I ab- 
hor travelling without an escort. Philip knew that and 
suggested the ‘ Comanche ’ because he has an old friend 
in Captain Pennington and thinks he knows all that any 
man can about the coast. But captains can’t be called 
upon at one’s convenience, and it will be delightful to 
impose upon your good nature ! ” She shook her head 
warningly as she spoke, but Arnold laughed. 

“You do not frighten me a bit, Mrs. Maxwell.” Then 
he noticed that Christine was looking at Elizabeth as if 
surprised that she said nothing, and suddenly his face 
clouded. 

“ I promise not to bore you all the time, Miss Hun- 
ter,” he said, turning toward her and speaking solely 
for her benefit. 

Elizabeth felt like beating her golden head against the 
wall behind her, because her tongue seemed tied and 
her breath gone. It was simply impossible to answer 
at any length, she was so crazily, senselessly happy. 
All she could do was to assume a sauciness that was 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


2 5 * 

absolutely foreign to her usual manner, and exclaim 
“ How good of you ! ” as she left the table and the 
room. 

An hour later John Bartlett found Christine alone in 
her parlor. She was writing, and he thought she looked 
as if she had been crying, but she spoke gayly enough. 
“ Come in. I am just through with some duty letters. 
Eleanor tells me that your mother is going to take 
her room, so that we may be together. It is very kind 
of you both to undertake the responsibility of such a 
troublesome young woman. Isn’t it absurd of father 
to call me delicate ? ” 

Here she glanced into the mirror over her desk and 
smiled at the reflection of her face. 

John Bartlett wasted no looks on reflections, but 
marked well the not yet obliterated signs of tears and 
attributed them to Frisby’s sudden departure. 

A sudden indignation seized him. 

Heartless flirt! unprincipled weakling! Why were 
such men created, when honest devotion goes starved. 
Poor, little innocent girl. What had she done to de- 
serve pain. He crushed his hand in his pocket, until 
it ached, and wished Frisby’s head was inside it. All 
he said was, “ I could not wish a happier arrangement 
for my mother.” 

The limitation was the result of self-abjurgation and 
humility. Unfortunately the entrance of visitors pre- 
vented any more being said, and the impression left 
upon Christine’s mind bore fruit an hour later when 
she threw herself upon her lounge, after carefully 
locking the door, and indulged in a mild attack of 
hysterics. “A pretty situation ! ” Sob, sob ! “ Here am 
I, dead in love with a man that adores my sister—” sob, 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


252 

sob ! — “and that my sister loves ! — and she is going 
away — and I am thrust upon him for weeks longer.” 
sob, sob ! — “ I wont stay ! Where can I go ? ” Sob. 
“Christine Hunter, you are a perfect idiot. John Bart- 
lett never would have fallen in love with Beth if you had 
not treated him so ! “Oh dear, dear !” sob, sob, sob. 

That was the only break-down that Christine per- 
mitted herself. The new ordeal of suffering acted like 
fire upon gold. She was true hearted and brave, and 
knew she had been thoughtless in her acceptance of 
Frisby’s attentions, though never for a moment had 
she really cared for him. Latterly he had been a mat- 
ter of convenience, for as John Bartlett and Elizabeth 
appeared more and more intimate, her own estimate of 
the former had so steadily increased that in self-defence 
she had accepted Frisby as temporary occupation. 

Most sisters would have discussed the situation, But 
the Hunters were averse to anything that savored of 
cold-blooded assumption regarding matters of senti- 
ment, and, in proportion to the intensity of feeling, 
grew more and more reticent. 

A dozen or more friends accompanied Eleanor and 
Elizabeth to Jacksonville, to see them off. The day 
was a dazzling one. Their state-rooms were heaped 
with flowers, fruits, confectionery and reading matter, 
and strangers wondered why the bridal couple were 
taking the pretty brunette with them. 

Elizabeth certainly looked happy enough to be a 
bride. Christine marvelled at her consummate control 
of herself and thought, “for of course she is miserable, 
and wishes we could change places.” 


AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


253 


Avery Arnold carried out the bridegroom’s role well 
enough to satisfy the public, and Eleanor Maxwell 
never dreamed of the superfluous part she was sup- 
posed to play. 

The St. John's River looked like a ribbon cut out of 
the cloudless sky, “ Don’t forget us. We’ll surely 
come back next winter,” said Elizabeth, as she shook 
hands with the Commissioner’s wife and the other 
friends. “And, Christine, darling, take good care of 
yourself — five weeks will soon pass, in St. Augustine, 
and then you will all come home.” She kissed Mrs. 
Bartlett, held out both hands to John, and stepped back 
to Eleanor’s side, as the gang-plank was drawn in, and 
the great steamer swung off down the river. 

That seventy hours’ voyage between Jacksonville 
and New York always seemed to Elizabeth Hunter and 
Avery Arnold a sort of golden way, nearer heaven than 
earth, through which other people went and came in a 
shining mist, but only two were real. Even Eleanor, 
gifted with eyes that saw nothing until the right time, 
and ears that refused to listen, was an outsider in 
thai magic universe. 

No tempest threatened, nor wave disturbed the days 
and evenings spent in walking up and down the decks, 
sitting in protected corners, or watching the ocean 
from the railings. 

It was on the first morning out, when Avery Arnold 
said, “You once told me that you loved the sea, Miss 
Elizabeth. I little thought, then, ever to be on it with 
you at my side. I did not dream what such an ex- 
perience might mean to me. Now, I know.” 

She looked full in his face. It was a habit of hers. 



* » * 





, aSjr- 

3P&-> ■ ■> 


W 



On the “ Comanche.” “ Good-bye, Florida. 



AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


255 

What she read there did away with all the struggle that 
had been bravely but hopelessly fought by her ever 
since that day at Miami when she first recognized how 
admirable, how altogether desirable he was. Never 
until now had she suspected his feeling for her, but it 
was written all over his face, and — trembling, dizzy 
with gladness, she waited. 

Mistaking her attitude, Avery Arnold compelled 
himself to say, “Believe me, I would gladly have 
stayed behind and given my place to Bartlett, for your 
happiness’ sake.” 

“For Bartlett?” Elizabeth repeated, looking up 
again, completely dazed. 

“Won’t you trust me enough to acknowledge your 
deepest, best hopes, Elizabeth, when I tell you that I 
love you and always shall love you better, far better 
than any woman on earth ? ” 

Still she wondered and looked and answered not. 
“ If he loved her, why did he speak of John Bartlett.” 

Instinctively she put her hand on his, as if to assure 
herself that she was not dreaming. 

“ What is it, Elizabeth ? Do you not like to talk of 
him to me ? You need not fear.” 

Then she found words, and sweet, intoxicating looks, 
and tender, proud bestowals, and Avery Arnold be- 
held a new earth. 

As they talked everything over, his own past dis- 
appointments and sorrows, Harold Frisby’s mistakes, 
his own patience with them because of a death-bed 
vow to the sister he was to have married, the recent 
misapprehensions, and the new content, Elizabeth 
asked why Frisby had gone in such haste. 


256 AN EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 

“ I insisted. It was abhorrent to me to have to pro- 
tect him in such a false position. Colonel James knew 
Harold’s wife as well as his mother, and had not heard 
of her recent absence in Europe. The marriage was a 
terrible mistake. Harold is not a bad fellow ; only im- 
pulsive, spoiled and selfish. I did not anticipate any 
danger from withholding the fact of his being married 
until we were in Miami. Your sister seemed perfectly 
well able to take care of herself, but Harold was getting 
in earnest. Colonel James’ coming simply hastened 
my action.” 

They were within sight of “ Liberty.” 

Eleanor, in full possession of facts, and as distinctly 
comfortable as a woman has a right to be, who can 
say to her husband, with unalloyed satisfaction, “I told 
you so,” was sitting under the lee of the pilot-house 
with a knot of admiring friends who were listening to 
her tales of Florida. 

Elizabeth and Avery Arnold stood on the starboard 
side of the ship, still revelling in their own world. 

“Avery,” how unspeakably dear his name had be- 
come to her. She prolonged it with musical intona- 
tion : “What a trip it has been ! And now, dear, how 
can we begin to work out all our beautiful plans for my 
poor people ? ” 

What his answer was may not be written. 

When Philip greeted them they were able to exchange 
the latest family news. 

“Here is a letter from Christine and another from 
John Bartlett. Evidently they have improved their 
time since you left them for both letters are dated 
Friday. A third, addressed to your father, in John’s 
writing, lies on the Doctor’s table. He’s out of town 



“ Almost home ! 


What a trip it has been ! ” 


AAT EAST FLORIDA ROMANCE. 


258 

for a day or two. How is it, Nell ? Are you a reliable 
prophetess ? ” 

“In both cases, Philip! congratulate the other 
couple ! ” triumphantly answered happy Eleanor Max- 
well, who thought to herself that while Elizabeth and 
Christine were certainly fortunate girls, no one could 
compare with her own “ great, awkward, darling 
Philip. ” 


THE END. 



























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